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THE AUTHOR AS HE APPEARED WHILE TRAVELLING IN SOUTH AMERICA 



“The Quest” 


BY 

DR. THOMAS A. STODDARD 

Formerly of Halifax, Nova Scotia 
Presently of Pueblo, Colorado 



Cochrane Publishing Company 
Tribune Building 
New York 
1909 




Copyright, 1909, by 
Cochrane Publishing. Co. 





(Q bl. A 2 5 ( * o 1 6 


This hook is dedicated to my little 
daughter Helen, and the best wish I 
can have for her is that she may de- 
velop into just such a woman as her 
mother. 


T. A. S . 





CONTENTS 


Chapter 


Pa*e 

I. 

Dr. Williams and Family 

9 

II. 

A Night’s Work and a Morning Murder . 

16 

III. 

A Mystery and a Sermon 

23 

IV. 

Mrs. Williams ...... 

29 

V. 

A Confession ..... 

33 

VI. 

A Sea Voyage ...... 

37 

VII. 

The Orinoco River .... 

42 

VIII. 

From Angostura to San Fernando de Apabapo 

46 

IX. 

The Trip Up the Guaviare 

56 

X. 

Pat’s Home Among the Indians 

63 

XI. 

A Fight ....... 

71 

XII. 

A Start ...... 

76 

XIII. 

Pat’s Story ...... 

81 

XIV. 

On the Cassiquiare .... 

84 

XV. 

Pat’s First Introduction to a Hostile Tribe 

89 

XVI. 

The Escape ...... 

96 

XVII. 

The Blue-Eyed Indians 

100 

XVIII. 

Captured ....... 

108 

XIX. 

A Reinforcement ..... 

112 

XX. 

Life Among the Fariera Indians 

116 

XXI. 

On the Apoporis ..... 

123 

XXII. 

The End of Pat’s Story .... 

127 

XXIII. 

The Inhabitants of the Lake City 

132 

XXIV. 

The New and Pleasant Quarters 

137 

XXV. 

The City and Country .... 

142 

XXVI. 

Mr. Adams and Pat Get Busy . 

148 

XXVII. 

The Quest Accomplished 

153 

XXVIII. Homeward Bound 

157 

XXIX. 

The Explanation ..... 

163 




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PREFACE. 


The following pages are based on incontrovertible 
facts, and are geographically and ethnologically correct. 
While traveling through that part of South America 
which is drained by the Amazon and the Orinoco, one is 
impressed with the fact that the most of the maps of 
that region are incorrect and based on conjecture. The 
fauna and flora have never been studied, and to the 
naturalist there is here a wealth of material for study 
and investigation. 



THE QUEST 


CHAPTER I. 

DOCTOR WILLIAMS AND FAMILY. 

“Is the doctor in?” came in trembling tones from the 
lips of a small fair man, dressed in the garb of a fisher- 
man, one stormy evening in the month of September, 18 — . 
The question was addressed to a young woman, with 
coal black hair and eyes. Her lips were thin and, when 
slightly parted, showed an even set of well-preserved 
teeth. The mouth had about it a look of determination, 
which boded good or ill as the case might be. The fore- 
head was high, broad and well rounded, the nose strongly 
formed, and not out of proportion to the face. 

She was standing in the doorway of a snug frame 
cottage, which stood on a slight eminence, about two 
hundred feet back from the road, which skirted the shore 
of a small land-locked cove, on the coast of Maine. 

The place had an appearance of prosperity and neat- 
ness. The closely-cut lawn was dotted with shrubbery 
and late autumn flowers. The hawthorn hedge was 
neatly trimmed, and everything went to show that they 
who lived there were, in taste and refinement, above 
those who lived in the many other houses, which could 
be seen on both sides of the cove. 

The answer to the opening question was somewhat 

9 


10 


THE QUEST 


startling in its sharpness and asperity. “No, the doctor 
is not in, and when he does come in, he won’t go out 
again to-night.” 

“But, my little girl is so sick, and Doctor Williams 
told me that if she were no better, to come this evening 
and let him know, and he would come down,” said the 
poor man, and the agony in his voice was sufficient evi- 
dence of his earnestness and concern, for the little one 
who lay so sick, the only one left of five, the others hav- 
ing been taken one by one during the past thirty days, 
by that dread disease of childhood, diphtheria. 

This reply did not seem to soften the heart of the 
woman, for she said : “The doctor has exposed his family 
to the danger too much already, and I can tell you now 
he is not going.” 

The man, whose name was Stafford, started for home 
with a heavy heart, uttering a prayer that the life of their 
only remaining child, little golden-haired Bess, might be 
spared. 

A short time after this the doctor drove up the gravel 
walk, and giving his horse to a servant who came for- 
ward, ran into the house, and in a voice filled with weari- 
ness, asked his wife if there were any calls. 

His wife, the young woman who had spoken to Staf- 
ford, said: “No, there are no calls, and if there were, 
you would not get them. It is a pity you can’t stay 
home with your family evenings.” The “family” mean- 
ing herself, her mother and sister. 

“Well, Mary,” said the doctor, “you know that the 
sick must be cared for, and this is my life work, chosen 
after careful deliberation, and chosen because I believed 
that I could do more good in it than in any other way. 
This life is not what we make it for ourselves, but what 
we make it for others, and if all would think and act so, 
what a blessed place this old earth would be. If others 


THE QUEST 


ii 


do not do as they ought, it will not excuse us if we 
neglect what we know is our duty.” 

“You are always talking of duty,” replied his wife; 
“as if exposing your family to contagious disease was a 
duty.” 

Doctor Williams said no more, but passed into a small 
room, which he called his surgery, and where he kept 
drugs, books and instruments; and carefully closing the 
door, wearily seated himself in a large leather-covered 
armchair, and gave way to a burst of anguish. “O Al- 
mighty God, why are we Thy creatures, created in Thy 
image, so afflicted in mind and body? From infancy 
to dotage, from the cradle to the grave, we are con- 
stantly harrassed with pain or discomfort. If this were 
all, and everything ended with death, none but fools 
would allow themselves to live past the first years of 
discretion; the whole earth would be one suicide’s club, 
and the dead awaiting burial would outnumber the living. 
But there is something after this life which will more 
than repay us for all our sufferings here. It is not ‘the 
fear of something after death,’ but the hope of what is 
beyond the grave which should stimulate our reason and 
make us, ‘bear those ills we have.’ How wisely are we 
dealt with by the All-Wise Ruler. I have seen many 
die, and yet I have never seen one die who was afraid 
of the ‘grim monster.’ Physiologists and pathologists 
tell us that this is because of the formation in the body 
of certain toxines or poisons, which partake of the nature 
of alkaloidal poisons. What a wonderful provision of 
nature, to be thus rendered insensible in a measure to 
the great but narrow chasm which separates a life of 
pain and distress, of poverty and disappointment, a life 
where everything is seen imperfectly, where defects are 
always in the foreground, and where the shadow is 
greater than the substance, from a life where perfection 


12 


THE QUEST 


is stamped on everything, with the indellible purity of the 
love of a universal creator, where we will not need a 
high-power microscope to see the beauties of those we 
love, nor an oil-immersion lens to discover the good 
qualities of those whom we have considered enemies.” 

At this moment the door opened and a face appeared, 
which said: “Supper’s ready.” This face was that of a 
woman of thirty years of age, and one into which a 
person could not gaze with any degree of pleasure. The 
eyes, which were small, black and beadlike, were deeply 
set so close together that you could easily fancy that 
they had in the past been one, but by some surgeon’s 
skill the one had been converted into two, thus destroying 
a living proof of the truth of the writings of mytholo- 
gists. The nose was prominent, narrow and extremely 
sharp. The septum, or partition between the nostrils, 
had the appearance of having grown downward after 
the process of growth had ceased on either side. The 
mouth was small and so devoid of what is called “cupid’s 
bow” that surely here was another evidence of the sur- 
geon’s art. The chin was prominent and seemed to have 
a strong desire to resist the downward development of 
the nasal septum. The complexion indicated a neglected 
stomach and a disordered liver. The teeth were yellow, 
uneven and decayed. The voice was harsh, penetrating, 
and grated unpleasantly on any ear it reached. Such was 
the sister of Mrs. Williams, Miss Julia Beerbour. She 
was two years the doctor’s senior, and, unlike most of 
her sex, was proud of her age, which she gave as a reason 
for knowing more than any one who was unfortunate 
enough to have been born at a subsequent date to that on 
which she had made her debut on the stage of mundane 
existence. 

After having made her announcement with the air of 
one who has accomplished a difficult and disagreeable 


THE QUEST 


13 


task, she led the way into the dining-room, followed by 
the doctor. Mrs. Williams and her mother were already 
seated, and after the doctor and his sister-in-law — or 
Miss Julia, as we shall call her — had taken their places* 
the doctor said: “Mary, I have just received from Bos- 
ton a small bottle of liquid which is said to be almost, if 
not quite, a specific for this terrible diphtheria, and after 
supper I am going down to Stafford’s to administer some 
to his little girl. Their hearts are broken, and I can see 
no hope for the little one.” 

“If you are determined to go,” said Mrs. Williams, 
“I’ll tell you now that Stafford was here just before you 
came home, and wanted you to come. I told him that 
you had already exposed your own family too much.” 

“Oh, Mary, I wish you had not said that,” said the 
doctor. “Poor Stafford and his wife are completely 
crushed with grief and anxiety.” 

“What is this new medicine?” asked Miss Julia, in an 
imperious tone. 

“It is a serum taken from a horse that has been 
rendered immune,” said the doctor. 

“Well,” said Miss Julia sharply, “some more of your 
dosing with medicine. If people only had sense enough 
to - leave doctors alone and think less of themselves, there 
would be less of this talk about sickness which exists 
only in the ; mind.” 

“But, Julia*” said the: doctor, “diphtheria, is in the 
throat, and not the mind; and, furthermore, little. Bess 
Stafford is too young to have contracted the disease 
through fear, as you would have us believe;” 

“Yes, but the parent’s fear is sufficient,” said Miss 
Julia. 

“Now, Miss Julia,” said the doctor, “you state an 
absurdity, and, of course, argument ceases. It is in the 
same line with your doctrine that there is nothing ma- 


14 


THE QUEST 


terial. You further say, ‘mind is everything/ ‘mind is 
God' ; therefore everything is God. Consequently we are 
God. This is pantheism, or worse ; it is blasphemy. This 
is the crime which cursed the earth, or rather, but for 
this crime on the part of an angel high in favor, this 
earth would never have been cursed. This angel who 
made himself equal with God was debased for his pre- 
sumption, and hence the existence of ‘his Satanic Maj- 
esty.’ I conclude, then, that ‘auld Nickie ben,’ as Burns 
familiarly calls the king of darkness, was the first of 
this cult to which you profess allegiance, and he, like 
you, preached this soul-destroying doctrine on every 
occasion. When he went to our first parents in the Gar- 
den of Eden and said, ‘Thou shalt not surely die/ when 
the Almighty Father had already said, ‘Thou shalt/ he 
was stating what these ‘disciples of error’ are now trying 
to instill into the minds of the sick and suffering all over 
this broad land of ours. There will come a time when 
there shall be no more sickness or death, but only after 
this natural body shall have put on immortality, when 
that which was sown in corruption shall be raised in 
glory; and the more we are prepared for this great 
change here, the more capable will we be of enjoying 
it, when it shall open to our view on the everlasting 
mom/' 

The doctor, having finished his evening meal, went into 
the surgery, got his medicine case in which he carried a 
surgical set, and prepared to go out. 

Going up to his wife, he said: “Mary, I am going to 
try and save little Bess Stafford’s life.” 

“Would it not be better,” replied his wife, ' “for the 
child to die than to grow up and live a life of toil and 
poverty as her mother has done?” 

“Oh, Mary,” said the doctor, “do not talk so. I wish 
you would help me in my work. I have so many dis- 


THE QUEST 


15 


couragements, because of the comparatively narrow 
limits of medical knowledge, because of the ignorance, 
frequently of those attending in the capacity of nurses, 
and then this terrible evil which has lately come among 
us, under the guise of science and Christianity, and with 
which Julia seems to be infatuated. This is doing more 
harm than disease. It prevents many times my being 
called until too late. Only yesterday Sam Robinson, who 
cut his leg so badly while chopping wood, could easily 
have been saved, but the Scientists ( ?) took charge of 
him, and allowed the poor boy to bleed to death. Many 
lives which are now sacrificed could be saved if I had a 
hospital at hand. And then I must confess that the 
ingratitude of those for whom I have done much is a 
burden to me which is well nigh unbearable. If you 
could only interest yourself in my work it would be a 
great encouragement to me, besides a source of happiness 
to you.” 

“You know how I feel about this matter,” said his 
wife, “so you are only wasting your time in talking. Go 
on down to Stafford’s, and if we get diphtheria, you 
will have yourself to blame.” 


CHAPTER II. 


a night's work and a morning murder. 

The doctor passed out into the darkness, and on arriv- 
ing at Stafford’s found the little one still alive, but very- 
low. He at once prepared and administered a dose of 
the remedy, repeating it in two hours. Before time for 
a third dose there was a marked change in the child’s 
condition. Her respirations, which had been rapid and 
strident, were now slower and almost noiseless. The 
pulse had fallen from 160 to 120, the temperature from 
104 to 101, and the doctor felt that he would like to 
give vent to his feelings as did Doctor McClure. 

He remained with the anxious parents until two o’clock 
in the morning, when a man named Russell came for 
him. 

Russell lived far up on the east side of the cove,, a 
distance of about two miles from Stafford’s. When the 
doctor arrived at Russell’s he found that his services 
were greatly needed. A new life had come into the 
home, and the young mother lay in the agony of a terrible 
convulsion. 

Here was need for calmness and quickness. After two 
hours of work and anxiety, which none can appreciate 
but him whose soul has been tried, Mrs. Russell was 
pronounced out of immediate danger. 

Before starting for home the doctor learned that Enos 
Holmes, a miserly old bachelor, who lived alone in a 
hut about half a mile back in the woods from Doctor 
Williams, held a mortgage on Russell’s home, and in- 
tended turning Russell and his wife out in the morning. 

16 


THE QUEST 


17 


When the doctor, on his way home, reached the road 
which led to Holmes , ) he decided to see this ‘‘money 
shark” and intercede for Russell, owing to the serious 
condition of Russell’s wife. 

During this lonely walk, the doctor’s thoughts wandered 
back to the time when he had gone to teach school in a 
small settlement among the Cumberland mountains in 
Kentucky, and how, in his lack of knowledge of the 
customs and manners of these ignorant but would-be 
aristocratic denizens of the mountains, he had been led 
into marriage with the daughter of those with whom 
he boarded, because he had persuaded her to attend with 
him a meeting in the schoolhouse when an itinerant Meth- 
odist preacher had happened to “invade the glen.” He 
had sent her to private school, where she had outdone 
all her classmates in their studies, but she held aloof 
from the others and made no friends. 

When the doctor had finished his medical course he 
brought his wife and began practice in this secluded spot, 
where all were strangers to both of them. They had 
few tastes in common. Her mother and sister, who were 
densely ignorant, she insisted on having with her, and 
the doctor, anxious to do everything that would contribute 
to her happiness, submitted with apparent pleasure. He 
was thankful that no little ones had come into their 
home, especially as his wife boasted that “all the brats 
in the neighborhood” were, afraid of her. 

He could not now persuade her to attend church, or 
any social gathering, and if visitors came to the house 
she would refuse to put in an appearance. 

It was while thinking of this past life that the doctor 
arrived at Holmes’ door, a little before daylight. He 
stood there considering as to whether to arouse the old 
miser, or await his voluntary arising, for he was said 
to be up and out by daybreak. 


i8 


THE QUEST 


While thus standing undecided, he became suddenly 
unconscious and fell to the earth with a groan. 

That morning, on arising, Mrs. Williams found that 
the doctor had not returned; but supposing that he was 
still at Stafford’s or Russell’s, paid little attention to his 
absence. 

About ten o’clock in the forenoon a man presented 
himself at the door of the doctor’s residence, and asked 
if the doctor were in. He was told that the doctor had 
gone “last evening” to Stafford’s and had not yet re- 
turned. The man appeared incredulous, and asked Mrs. 
Williams if she were sure that the doctor had not re- 
turned. 

“Don’t you suppose,” replied Mrs. Williams, “that I 
would know if the doctor had returned? I did not want 
him to go, because of exposing us to diphtheria, but he 
would go, and now I suppose he is waiting until the 
child dies.” 

When she had finished speaking Mrs. Williams no- 
ticed an officer’s badge on the coat of the stranger, and 
she asked sharply: “What do you want of the doctor?” 

The officer, for such he was, hesitated a moment and 
then said: “Mrs. Williams, Enos Holmes was murdered 
this morning, and this knife” — taking from his pocket a 
surgeon’s small amputating knife — “was found piercing 
the heart of the murdered man. Besides this, a blank 
prescription book, with Doctor Williams’ name printed 
on each leaf, was found just outside the door of Holmes’ 
house. It is known that only a few days ago the doctor 
had quite a scene with old Enos, about his dealing so 
harshly with some poor person in the village, and if the 
doctor has not returned it looks badly for you.” 

Mrs. Williams had stood motionless while the officer 
was speaking, and without changing countenance she 


THE QUEST 


19 


said : “I suppose, then, that the doctor will not come 
back for a time, until the matter quiets down ; but I don’t 
think that old Enos Holmes had any relatives, or even 
friends, around these parts, so the doctor need not be 
afraid of any trouble because he killed the old miser.” 

“But my duty,” replied the officer, “is to arrest the 
doctor and lodge him in jail, at least on suspicion, and 
I must say that the circumstantial evidence against him 
is very strong.” 

The officer then went down to Stafford’s, and after 
learning from them of the doctor’s having started for 
Russell’s about two o’clock, he told them the story of the 
murder. He then went to Russell’s, but could only learn 
that the doctor had been there and left presumably for 
home, a little before daylight. 

Here was a mystery. Doctor Williams had lived here 
for five years and was beloved by nearly everyone in 
the cove. His services were never withheld when 
needed, and when the news of the murder, with the 
suspicions against Doctor Williams, became known, there 
were few in the settlement who believed that he was the 
criminal, except Mrs. Williams and her sister, and to 
them it did not seem so very horrible. A diligent search 
was made that day for the doctor, but no trace of him 
could be found. He had disappeared from human view 
as mysteriously and as completely as if the earth had 
swallowed him up. The body of Enos Holmes was 
buried in his own garden, with none to shed a tear, but 
many to hurl imprecations at the memory of him, whom 
they all detested, and whom they blamed for depriving 
them, even in his death, of one whom they all loved 
and believed to be innocent, notwithstanding the fact that 
the coroner’s jury had presented a verdict at the inquest 
which named Doctor Williams as the murderer. 


20 


THE QUEST 


After talking to the officer at the door, Mrs. Williams 
went in and called her mother and Julia and told them 
what she had just heard. 

“Well,” said Julia, “it does not surprise me. These 
doctors see so much of other people’s troubles that they 
get hardened, and I believe that they kill lots of people 
with their medicines as well as their fears. We will 
always have such things happening until this Science that 
1 have learned becomes universal, when everyone will 
realize that nothing material exists, and what is called 
animal and vegetable life is seen to be a self-evident false- 
hood. All that we call sin, sickness and death is a matter 
of belief. Matter is an error of statement, for there is 
no matter. Nothing we can say or believe of matter is 
true. If the doctor is gone for good from here, it, I am 
sure, will be a good thing, for does not this book” — 
holding up a small cloth-bound volume — “say, physiology, 
obeying to the letter, that so-called laws of health has 
neither diminished sickness or increased longevity. Dis- 
eases have multiplied and become more obstinate, their 
chronic forms more frequent, the acute more fatal and 
death more sudden since our man-made theories have 
taken the place of primitive truth.” 

“Now, Julia,” said Mrs. Williams, “it is about time 
you stopped talking this foolishness of yours. What 
made you scream when the window fell on your finger? 
Why did you groan when the dentist in Boston was 
filling your tooth? Why do you put on heavy clothing 
when the weather is cold, and why do you use a fan 
when the room is too hot? The fact is I do believe that 
the doctor did kill that old Holmes, and the only thing I 
regret about it is that we are living up here in the North, 
where they make so much fuss about such matters. If 
we were down in Kentucky, no one would trouble them- 
selves about it, unless there were some relatives, which 


THE QUEST 


21 


there does not seem to be in this case. I’m going back 
as soon as I can get ready.” 

‘Tm going, too,” said Julia. 

“Daughters,” said their mother, “my heart is heavy 
with grief to hear you talk so about James, when you 
know not if he did the killing. He was not the man 
who would be likely to do such a thing without cause, 
and there does not seem to be any cause. Don’t do any- 
thing rash, and do not be in a hurry to believe everything 
you hear. James may come back soon and explain 
everything, and let us not talk any more about it until 
we know more. And you, Julia ; I am put about to hear 
you talk in that manner. Have you forgotten when you 
had lung fever how James waited on you, and when 
we all expected you to die, he never left you and pulled 
you through?” 

“Yes, and after I got about again,” said Julia, “I found 
that just at that time I was receiving absent treatment 
from Mrs. Barnes, up in Portland, and it was her treat- 
ment that cured me.” 

“Mary,” said the mother, “would it not be best to send 
word to Lawyer Moore, up in Boston, who was a great 
friend of James’, and I am sure he would come and 
advise you what is best to be done. You could send Sam 

down to Y , and send a telegram from there and so 

save time.” 

Mrs. Williams at once saw the wisdom of her mother’s 
suggestion, and hastily writing the following dispatch : 

“ , Sept. — , 1 8 — . 

“To Judge W. B. Moore, 

Street, Boston. 

“Come at once to Doctor James Williams.” 

She called the servant man Sam, and told him to take 
it to the telegraph office at Y as quickly as possible. 

That evening about eight o’clock Mr. Moore arrived 


22 


THE QUEST 


from Boston, and was very much surprised and pained 
to hear of what had happened. He at once said : “Doc- 
tor Williams did not commit that murder. Robbery has 
been the motive, and anyone knowing the doctor as I do 
knows that he is incapable of doing such a deed. I will 
find the man who did it and clear the name of my dearest 
friend/' 

Judge Moore was a man of medium build, dark blue 
eyes and black hair and mustache, upon the latter of 
which time had placed its bleaching hand. He advised 
Mrs. Williams to make no plans for the future, at least 
just now, but to go on as if the doctor had gone away 
for a visit, and in the meantime, said he: “I will make 
every effort to discover the doctor's whereabouts, for I 
am convinced that there has been foul play, and the 
doctor is only kept away for the present to enable the 
guilty party to escape"; but admitting to himself that 
the doctor was very likely killed and his body disposed of. 


CHAPTER III. 


A MYSTERY AND A SERMON. 

Mr. Moore had in his early years done some very 
clever detective work, in connection with a robbery of a 
bank in Boston, and was the means of bringing the thieves 
to justice, and he now decided that he would bring his 
talents in this direction into service again for the sake 
of his friend. 

The following morning being Sunday, the Rev. Thomas 
McGregor stood up in the pulpit of the Presbyterian 
church, the only one in the cove, and looking into the 
faces of those before him, said: 

“My address this morning will be from the words of 
Abraham, found in the twenty-fifth verse, of the eigh- 
teenth chapter of Genesis. ‘That be far from thee to do 
after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, 
and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be 
far from thee. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do 
right?’ This book, from which I obtain these words, 
has been placed in the hands of the children of men, as 
their rule of faith and for their guidance. It meets the 
requirements of every member of the human race, 
whether it be for judgment on the unrepentant sinner or 
for the ‘well done’ to repentant and faithful followers 
of the meek and lowly Teacher. It contains all the in- 
structions necessary to enable us to live a life that is 
Christlike in its simplicity, aims and accomplishments. It 
tells us of our origin and the objects for which we 
were created. It draws us with the cords of love and 
encouragement to tread the straight and narrow path 
23 


24 


THE QUEST 


which leads to a satisfactory life here and a glorious 
resurrection hereafter. It restrains us from evil, by the 
plentiful judgments which are pronounced against those 
‘who fear not God’ and who do not ‘obey his command- 
ments.’ It contains instruction for the saint and the 
sinner, for the rich and the poor, for the educated and 
the ignorant, for the emperor and the artisan, the presi- 
dent and the populace. It is as suitable for the people 
of to-day as it was for those who lived during the reign 
of the Caesars, and its promises will be as sweet and 
appropriate to succeeding generations as they were to 
the sweet singer of Israel when he said, ‘O sing unto the 
Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things ; his 
right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory. 
The Lord hath made known his salvation ; his righteous- 
ness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen.’ 

“To-day our hearts are filled with grief and conster- 
nation because of the terrible calamity which has befallen 
this people. A man has been found murdered, and cir- 
cumstantial evidence points out as the murderer one 
whom we have loved, and in our hours of pain and sick- 
ness we have longed to see. It is not for us to judge 
even if everything were proven. There are many things 
which would go to disprove the theories of those who 
have sat in judgment. Can you, my friends, believe that 
a man whose soul was illuminated and beautified by the 
smile of approval from the face of the Almighty, who 
seeing the heroic and self-sacrificing work of this humble 
follower of the ‘Great Physician,’ must have pronounced 
a ‘well done’ on his work that night, two lives saved; 
can you believe that he could hurl the soul of a fellow 
mortal, all unprepared, into the presence of the ‘Judge of 
all the earth ?’ I tell you no, a thousand times no. There 
will come a time when this mystery will be made clear, 
‘God shall bring every work into judgment, with every 
secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.’ 


THE QUEST 


25 


It is for the purpose of comforting your hearts to-day 
that I have chosen this text. 

We will first notice that God’s judgments are right- 
eous, ‘shall not the judge of all the earth do right?’ He 
knows our every weakness, he understands all our mo- 
tives. He does not see as man sees, nor will he judge 
as man judges. Everything is ‘open to the eyes of him 
with whom we have to do.’ He is our father and we 
are his children. What a comfort to think that we are 
not to be judged by one who would possibly allow some 
personal feeling to enter into the judgment, and how 
difficult for any man whose passions are human and 
whose feelings are liable to be stirred by the eloquent 
appeal of some brilliant legal talent which has been hired 
for gold to render an impartial judgment. 

“Since the time when the edict went forth, ‘the soul 
that sinneth it shall die,’ up to the present, God has been 
visiting the works of his creation with judgments. There 
must be something in these judgments for our good, for 
he doeth all things well, and he who gave his ‘only be- 
gotten Son’ to save us from the judgment which would 
say ‘depart from me into everlasting punishment’ in- 
tends that these present judgments shall be made a means 
of bringing us closer to him. They teach us humiliation, 
‘and when Rehoboam humbled himself, the wrath of 
the Lord was turned from him that he would not destroy 
him altogether.’ Here we have an instance of humility 
saving for the time from the righteous judgments of God. 

“Jeremiah said, ‘Remembering mine affliction and my 
misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them 
still in remembrance and is humbled in me.’ This I recall 
to my mind, therefore I have hope.’ ‘Out of the mouth 
of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good, where- 
fore doth a living man complain, a man for the punish- 
ment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and 
turn again to the Lord.’ 


26 


THE QUEST 


“But the judgments of God not only teach us humility, 
they also supply a motive for repentance. There are 
doubtless many times when we feel like saying, with the 
poet: 


‘And man, whose heaven erected face, 

The smiles of love adorn, 

Man’s inhumanity to man, 

Makes countless thousands mourn.’ 

“The fear of God’s judgments, while not perhaps being 
the highest motive which should induce ‘the wicked man 
to forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts,’ 
at the same time it is for some the only thing which will 
get them into the circle of God’s love. The training 
which will produce a nihilist or an anarchist must be 
different to that which produces a Democrat or a believer 
in a monarchial form of government ; hence the necessity 
of declaring the whole council of God, his loving kind- 
ness towards us in providing a ransom, as well as his 
righteous judgment which consigns the unrepentant sin- 
ner to an abode with the ‘Prince of the power of the air.’ 

“Again : The judgments of God should be a means of 
bringing us as supplicants to the foot of the cross. 

“When the Almighty was about to severely punish the 
children of Israel for their idolatrous worship of the 
golden calf, ‘Moses besought the Lord his God’ and said, 
‘Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, thy servants to 
whom thou swearest by thine own self’; and thus saved 
the people from the threatened judgment. And again: 
‘When Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire was 
quenched,’ which the Lord had sent among them for 
their complaining, by Daniel’s prayer for his people in 
captivity, and how encouraged we are at the immediate 
results, for we are told that, ‘whilst I was yet speaking 


THE QUEST 27 

in prayer,’ the angel Gabriel came to him and informed 
him when to expect the termination of their captivity. 

“It is well, therefore, for us, in view of this dispen- 
sation of Divine Providence, this sudden judgment of 
Almighty God in this corner of his vineyard, to approach 
with reverence and ‘godly fear’ the throne of grace. Let 
us pray,” and with a reverent uplifting of his hands he 
signalled his people to arise, and the whole congregation, 
without exception, stood up and with bowed heads, 
folded hands and tearful eyes listened intently to the 
following from the lips of their pastor: “O Almighty 
Father, who art the only true God and Father of man- 
kind, we thy humble children approach Thee with bleed- 
ing hearts and weeping eyes. Our souls are heavy within 
us, and we know not where to go but to Thee, who 
has not only asked but commanded us to call upon Thee 
in the day of trouble. Truly, O Lord, this is the day 
of trouble to this people. We come pleading not our 
own worthiness, but the worthiness of Thine own Son, 
whom, before the foundation of the world, Thou didst 
ordain to be the ‘propitiation for our sins’ and who after 
having experienced the suffering and temptations and 
trials incident to humanity, and bearing the sins of the 
universe, is now seated at Thy right hand. We bless 
Thy high and holy name that Thou didst not leave us 
without a Saviour, a prey to the great author of evil, that 
Thou didst in Thine infinite goodness and mercy and 
wisdom provide for us out of Thine own self the means 
by which Thy righteous judgments can be accomplished 
and we, who are under condemnation, be saved. Thou 
knowest the great sorrow which has come upon us. Lord, 
we do not believe that he who has so mysteriously dis- 
appeared from our midst is guilty of the great crime 
which some would seem to place at his door. Show us 
thy mercy, Thou all wise Father. We do not pray for 


28 


THE QUEST 


vengeance upon the real author of this crime, for Ven- 
geance belongeth to the Lord,’ but we do supplicate 
Thee that Thou wouldst restore to his family and friends 
him whom we have on our hearts. Be gracious unto us, 
O Lord, and in Thine own way and time — but we pray 
Thee that that time may be soon — restore us our friend. 
Remember, O Our Father, his kind-heartedness, his min- 
istrations to the sick and suffering, and his usefulness 
in the work which has come to be specially considered 
the ‘Lord’s work.’ And now, our Father, be with us 
and lay not Thy hand too heavily upon us and unto Thine 
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 
through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, may it be 
granted unto us to grow in grace and in the knowledge 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom be glory 
both now and forever. Amen.” 

At the close of this prayer the whole congregation sank 
upon their knees and gave way to their grief by loud 
sobbing, which continued until the pastor announced the 
closing hymn, which was a versification of the third part 
of the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm. 


CHAPTER IV. 


MRS. WILLIAMS. 

After the singing of the hymn, Mr. Moore, who with 
Mrs. Williams had been seated in the rear of the church, 
came forward and taking the minister by the hand said : 
“God bless you for what you have said this day ; will you 
not come and speak to Mrs. Williams?” Mr. McGregor 
walked slowly down the aisle, and approaching Mrs. 
Williams, found her weeping. None had ever seen her 
in the church before, and her own mother had never seen 
tears in her eyes since her childhood. 

The pastor held out his hand, and in a trembling voice 
could only say: “Mrs. Williams.” She grasped the 
proffered hand and bursting into tumultuous and uncon- 
trollable weeping, began to upbraid herself for the past. 
The pastor comforted her as best he could, and then, 
when all had left the church except these three, they 
kneeled down and the minister again implored God’s 
mercy and blessing. Mrs. Williams and Mr. Moore 
then walked slowly and silently home. At the door Mrs. 
Williams said: “Judge, will you excuse me if I do not 
appear at lunch to-day? I wish to be alone.” She 
passed into the house, and going directly to her own 
room, did not appear again until evening. When she 
came into the room where her mother and Mr. Moore 
sat talking, she walked up to her mother and kissed her, 
something she had not done for years. She then asked 
Mr. Moore to go with her to Staffords. 

Arriving at their destination, she told him that he had 

29 


30 THE QUEST 

better remain outside while she went in to inquire how 
little Bess was. 

She found the little girl sitting up in her cot, with her 
father and mother beside her. Mrs. Williams sat down 
beside them, and after making inquiries about the little 
one, she requested that she might be allowed to come 
every day and see the child. Mrs. Stafford could scarcely 
understand the turn affairs had taken, and seemed ill at 
ease while her visitor remained. 

Shortly after Mrs. Williams had entered the house 
Stafford had gone out, and finding Mr. Moore standing 
by the gate, he walked up to him, and the two were soon 
in earnest conversation. 

On the way home there was little conversation. Mr. 
Moore seemed distracted and depressed. The next morn- 
ing he walked down to Stafford’s and remained for 
some time, and on returning to the doctor’s house he 
informed Mrs. Williams that he would start for Boston 
that afternoon, and he advised her strongly to remain 
for the present and make no changes. Mrs. Williams 
assured him that nothing would induce her to leave there 
now, and that she believed that the doctor would return, 
and in the meantime she would do what she could to 
make amends for the past. This she did to the fullest 
extent. If nursing was required it was Mrs. Williams 
who did it. If some delicacy was needed for the sick, 
Mrs. Williams prepared and carried it with her own 
hands. If a sick child needed care or attention, it was 
she who was always at hand, and her name soon became 
a household word and a synonym for cheerfulness, com- 
fort and compassion. Mr. McGregor received more help 
and encouragement from her than from anyone else in 
the settlement. The hard lines of her face, which before 
had been repellant, now became softened and her happy 
expression was the best evidence that her greatest pleas- 


THE QUEST 


3i 


ure was found in the work in which she was now en- 
gaged. Once her sister upbraided her for what she did, 
saying : “Don’t you know Mary that you are doing much 
to increase disease and sin, for this book says ‘the doc- 
tor’s mind reaches the patient; his beliefs in disease and 
the reality and fatality it has to him harms his patients 
more than his calomel and morphine. Give the science 
of metaphysical healing a hearing in our pulpits, free 
discussion from the press, and the place in our institu- 
tions of learning that physiology now occupies, and it 
would eradicate sickness and sin in less time than they 
have been increasing on the old systems and stereotyped 
plans to beat them.’ ” 

“Now, Julia,” said Mrs. Williams, “to say that this 
so-called science which has been evolved by a human 
being is capable of doing away with what God himself 
could not eradicate without sacrificing his ‘only begotten 
Son’ is to my mind more sinful than simple. I do not 
know enough of your metaphysical healing doctrines to 
argue at any length ; in fact, I do not think that argument 
is necessary. When Satan came to tempt Christ he 
was met not by any lengthy metaphysical argument, but 
by a plain quotation, and a correct one, from God’s word, 
which was sufficient. When Christ met the blind man 
he did not begin by saying, ‘You are not blind’; he used 
means to restore sight to those sightless organs. He did 
not say to the lepers, ‘You have no disease’; he sent 
them to bathe in a certain mineral water which cured 
them. Here we see Christ using certain means and 
methods to cure disease, which shows us plainly that we 
are to use the means that God has placed in our hands 
to do the work for which we are, by Him, placed here 
to accomplish.” 

From this time Julia said no more on this subject. 

Mrs. Williams’ face had a settled, calm and grieved, 


32 


THE QUEST 


yet withal happy expression, but in which one could not 
help detecting the absence of something, which gave her 
the appearance of always expecting. 

Matters went on in this way for five years. A new 
doctor had come into the settlement, and he found Mrs. 
Williams an invaluable help to him. It did not matter 
what difficult case he had, when he needed assistance he 
would always send for her, and she never refused to 
render any help of which she was capable. The new 
doctor had time and again urged her to go up to Boston 
and take a course in nursing, but she always said she 
was not ready to go yet. 

For two summers a lady who taught botany in one 
of the Boston schools had come down here and roomed 
and boarded with Mrs. Williams, who became very much 
interested in this work, and the two spent many hours 
together in the fields and the woods, as they said “botan- 
izing.” This teacher found Mrs. Williams so apt in this 
particular work, and having besides a splendid general 
education, that she urged her to go up to Boston and 
secure a position as teacher. Mrs. Williams would al- 
ways say that she could not get away from home, as she 
seemed to be needed every day; but when the teacher 
was leaving this last time, Mrs. Williams said to her: 
“Perhaps you will see me in Boston before the winter 
is over.” 


CHAPTER V. 


A CONFESSION. 

One morning late in September, Stafford, who had 
just returned from his nets, was surprised by a visit from 
Mr. Moore. The lawyer had a newspaper in his hand, 
which he gave to Stafford, and pointing to a paragraph, 
asked him to read it. This paragraph was prefaced by 
the heading: 

“confession of a murderer now under sentence of 

DEATH AT THE STATE PRISON.” 

“Two weeks ago John Northup was arrested, tried 
and convicted for the murder of Levi Matthew, a jeweler 

of , whose store he attempted to burglarize. He 

was sentenced to be executed on the 30th of the present 
month. Yesterday he asked to see a priest, to whom he 
made a confession. The priest refused him absolution 
unless he would make part of this confession public, and 
this he did. It is as follows: ‘In September, five years 
ago, I learned that there was an old miser living near 

, in the State of Maine. He lived alone in a house 

somewhat removed from all others, and I decided to 
rob him. I arrived in front of his house just before day- 
break, and seeing a man standing there and supposing it 
to be the old miser, I struck him from behind a hard 
blow on the side of the head with a club which I carried. 
He fell to the ground and I proceeded to search his 
pockets. Finding no keys, I at once walked to the door 
and attempted to open it. A voice from within asking 
“Who’s there?” showed me that I had struck the wrong 

33 


34 


THE QUEST 


man. I replied to the voice : “Come here quick, there is 
a man badly hurt here.” I then stood to one side and 
when the old man came out I struck him and rendered 
him senseless. 

“ T then carried him inside, put him on the bed, tied 
his hands and feet, and went outside to see if I had 
killed the first man, and found him dead. I picked up 
a small satchel which he still grasped in his hand, and 
on opening it found it filled with medicines and surgical 
instruments. It was now getting light, and fearing that 
some one might be passing, I carried the dead man into 
the house, and proceeded to hunt for the miser’s money. 
I succeeded in. finding a considerable amount, about four 
thousand dollars, and while I was going through the 
miser’s pockets he recovered consciousness and began 
to scream. Fearing discovery, I threatened to kill him 
if he did not remain quiet. My threat did not stop his 
cries, so I took one of the knives out of the satchel of the 
man I had killed outside, and out of sheer desperation I 
plunged it into the miser’s heart. I then made further 
search, and found about two thousand dollars more, 
about half of which was gold. I then took the satchel 
which contained the medicines and instruments, and 
emptying these on the floor, I put my booty in it and 
was about to leave when a cunning thought occurred to 
me. I gathered up all the medicines and instruments, 
and carrying them to the rear of the house I buried them 
in some newly dug up soil. I left the knife sticking in 
the miser’s breast and placed my club by his bedside, and 
then carried the body of the first man in and placed it on 
the floor near the bed, and untied the miser’s hands and 
feet. All this I did to make it appear that they had 
been fighting and had killed each other. I then got 

away, and taking the train at , I did not stop 

until I arrived in Denver. 


THE QUEST 


35 


“ ‘Here I remained for some time, making excursions 
out to neighboring towns, and frequently holding men up. 
Once myself and another, in the month of March, 

1 8 , attempted to hold a man up on the street of a 

city over one hundred miles south of Denver, and he 
fought so hard with a loaded cane which he carried that 
I was forced to shoot him or I believe he would have 
killed me/ ” 

Stafford read this through and seemed stunned for a 
time. At length he said: “Mr. Moore, can you explain 
this?” 

Mr. Moore replied, “I think I can,” and proceeded to 
do so to Stafford’s satisfaction. 

Mr. Moore and Stafford, after some further conver- 
sation, went up to Doctor Williams’ house, and after a 
somewhat lengthy confidential talk with Mrs. Williams, 
the lawyer and Stafford took their leave, the former 
starting at once for Boston. 

On his way home Stafford’s step seemed lighter and 
his face happier than for many a day. 

The next day Stafford went to Enos Holmes’ place, 
which everyone shunned since the murder, and on dig- 
ging over quite an extent of ground he at last unearthed 
the medicines and instruments of Doctor Williams, and 
thus proved the truth of the confession of the convict. 
This he wrote to Mr. Moore and carried the findings to 
Mrs. Williams, who carefully put them away, regarding 
them seemingly as sacred. A few days after this Mrs. 
Williams informed her mother and Julia that she was 
going up to Boston and might possibly remain away for 
a year. She asked them to remain and attend to mat- 
ters as usual. She then went to Mr. McGregor and told 
him of her intended absence. The minister, who had 
received so much help and encouragement from her in 
his duties, felt that he was sustaining a great loss, but 


36 


THE QUEST 


said nothing to prevent her going — on the contrary gave 
her words of comfort and wished her God speed. 

The new doctor gave her the addresses of several 
people, friends of his, in Boston who might be of service 
to her. She visited every family in the cove before 
going away, and many were the good wishes and bless- 
ings bestowed upon her by these simple but loving and 
appreciative people. 









. 























































CHAPTER VI. 


A SEA VOYAGE. 

Sometime after the events recorded in the last chap- 
ter a young man stepped on board of a large brig which 
was lying at the “T” wharf in Boston, and inquired for 
the captain. He was shown to the cabin, where Captain 
John Berne received him cordially, saying: “Now, Mr. 
Adams, we are about ready to sail, and I know you will 
have no fault to find with the ‘Bessie G,’ for she is the 
fastest brig out of Boston and as dry as a house in a 
storm. I will land you at Ciudad de Bolivar in less than 
thirty days, safe and sound. Have you all your traps 
and belongings aboard? We will sail to-night at six 
o’clock if there is enough wind to fill our topsails.” 

At six o’clock everything was life and bustle on the 
clean white deck of the Bessie G. The order to hoist the 
jib and mainsail was given, and the lines which held the 
ship to the wharf being cast loose, the brig, under the 
pressure of a fresh breeze from the west, sprang away 
from her moorings like a thing of life. One sail after 
another was “shook out,” the sheets drawn taut and the 
braces belayed. They glided past Governor’s Island and 
had a good view of Fort Winthrop, and when they passed 
Deer Island, where they dropped their pilot, it was quite 
dark. The first mate’s watch was sent below, the captain 
with the second mate taking the first watch on deck. 
Halyards and ropes had to be coiled, the anchor cated, 
and everything made secure. 

Mr. Adams was an interested observer of all this work 
and seemed to take more interest in what was going 

37 


38 


THE QUEST 


on than if he were only a passenger bound for South 
America on an exploring trip. He remained on deck 
long after the captain’s watch had gone below, and 
watched the lights on the shore grow dim, and after a 
time the lights on the Brewsters were only seen by look- 
ing over the tafrail. He watched the bright phosphor- 
escence of the water as it dashed against the side of the 
ship and fell back into the darker and deeper water 
which reached down and down into unfathomed depths. 
The moonlight seemed to gild the waves with silver as 
far as the eye could penetrate the darkness. A feeling 
of loneliness hung over everything, and with it a sense 
of the vastness and the unconquerable power of this 
ocean, over which he was now gliding with so much ease 
and security. Had man conquered? Most assuredly 
not. He had seen a shipwreck a year before during a 
southeast gale. A ship was seen through the mist in 
the offing, flying signals of distress. She came rapidly 
towards the shore and men could be seen on her deck. 
No boat could live in that sea. As the ship got into 
shoal water she was tossed from the top of one gigantic 
wave to another like a toy to be played with. At length, 
when almost against the cliff, she seemed to be caught 
up by an oncoming wave and thrown with inexpressible 
force and fury against the jagged rocks. There was a 
crunching, splitting sound and the spume of the wave 
was covered for a moment with a tangle of splintered 
wood, twisted ropes, and human forms, and the next 
wave covered all up, and then nothing further was seen 
but a few pieces of broken plank or battered rail to tell 
of the destruction which had been wrought in a second 
of time by this same ocean which now appeared so 
beautiful and submissive. Would he see it when in 
angry mood and be at its mercy? Then a feeling of un- 


THE QUEST 


39 


utterable wretchedness came over him for which he 
could not account, and he went below and, as the sailors 
say, “turned in.” 

The next morning the sun rose clear and bright in a 
cloudless sky. The wind, which had hauled to the north- 
west, was fresh, and the long, heavy “ground swell” of 
the ocean was sufficient to show the brig off to the best 
advantage. Every sail was set and full and the vessel 
bounded over her trackless course and the waves came 
and kissed her on either cheek in token of welcome. A 
flock of seagulls followed in their wake, and occasionally 
the large sharp dorsal fin of a shark showed that they 
were being followed by a monster whose joy is in dis- 
aster and whose very life and living come through death 
and destruction. 

Mr. Adams awoke this morning and felt that some- 
thing had gone wrong during the darkness. An uncon- 
trollable desire to die took possession of him, but he 
did not have sufficient energy to be his own executioner. 
He grasped the edge of the “bunk” with a fond desper- 
ation in a fruitless attempt to keep the Bessie G on an 
even keel. He could hear the tread of the sailors on the 
deck, and the splashing of the water as the ship passed 
from the loving embrace of one huge ground swell to 
that of another. He had no fear, but this awful nausea ! 
How long would it last, what would relieve it, should 
he survive to perform the task before him? He ate 
nothing this day, and the captain very wisely left him to 
himself. 

On the third morning out the sun was not shining so 
brightly, the weather being somewhat hazy, but to Mr. 
Adams everything looked brighter, and he was able to 
come on deck and to enjoy something of the exhilaration 
of bounding over the “wide waste of waters” on the deck 
of a fast sailing ship, with a fair wind and “all sheets 


40 


THE QUEST 


taut.” His appetite returned, but his food did not, and 
he was soon able to walk along the deck without measur- 
ing his length in the lea scuppers. 

On the fifth day out our passenger brought a rifle on 
deck and proceeded to practice on gulls, blue fish and 
sharks, and after getting in the vicinity of the Bahamas 
the flying fish supplied him with a good target. 

On the eastern edge of the gulf stream the Bessie G 
encountered a terrible storm which confined Mr. Adams 
to his bunk for two days. About four o’clock in the 
afternoon of a day which had been perfect a small dark 
cloud appeared to the south. The captain, on consulting 
the barometer, or, as the sailors says, the “glass,” found 
it rapidly falling. Orders were at once given to shorten 
sail, and although the greatest haste was made, the 
storm was upon them before the for’sail was furled. 
The first blast of the wind tore this sail into ribbons 
and threw the ship so nearly on her beam-ends that 
everyone made for the weather rail. The good ship, 
however, righted herself, and was soon scudding before 
the hurricane with a velocity which threatened to bring 
them again within sight of the port from which they 
had sailed a week before. Towards morning the storm 
abated, and the wind veering around to the northeast, 
the Bessie G was soon on her course again with a free 
sheet. 

On the morning of the twentieth day out they sighted 
land to the southwest, and the captain, calling Mr. Adams 
to him, said: “That is the island of Trinidad, and is 
situated one hundred miles from the mouth of the Ori- 
noco River, from which we have a sail of two hundred 
and fifty miles to the city of Ciudad de Bolivar, or, as 
it is frequently called, Angostura.” 

After sighting the island of Trinidad they sailed a 
more southerly course, and that night again the cry of 


THE QUEST 


4 * 

“Land ho !” brought Mr. Adams on deck. He could see 
a light ahead, and approaching the captain, he asked: 
“What land is that?” He was informed that it was a 
light on the northwest point of Barima Island, at the 
mouth of the Orinoco River, which is here about forty 
miles wide. At daylight the next morning the Bessie 
G was up the river a sufficient distance so that land could 
be seen on both sides. Mr. Adams seemed excited and 
impatient at the slow progress they were making against 
the current and a head wind. The next day, however, 
the wind was in their favor and they made better 
progress. 


CHAPTER VII. 


THE ORINOCO RIVER. 

The view on both sides of the river was something 
not to be forgotten. On the starboard side the land was 
low and covered with an exceedingly dense forest of 
enormous growth. The variegated colors indicated that 
the trees were not all of the same species. Spots of 
dark green showed where majestic palms thrust their 
waving fronds into the ethereal azure and stand like 
sentinels guarding the multitudinous forms of animal, 
insect and plant life which here has been beautified by 
the hand of the Creator beyond the power of human 
tongue to tell. On the port side the ground was con- 
siderably higher, and dotted here and there with small 
villages, the houses being poorly built but heavily 
thatched with the leaves of a large palm resembling the 
cabbage palm. 

Back of these villages and extending as far as the eye 
could reach was the primeval forest, consisting of grace- 
ful palms of a hundred different kinds — the india-rubber 
tree, with its large long leaf and heavy foliage, the 
mahogany, the rosewood, the coco-bolo, the ebony, and 
many others, the wood of which will some day delight 
the heart of the cabinet maker. This whole forest is 
bound together with vines and creeping parasites, which 
render it almost inaccessible to man and is the home of 
countless troops of monkeys and myriads of beautifully 
colored birds of every size and kind. Here nature has 
certainly outdone herself. Will the time ever come when 
the ruthless hand of ■ destructive man shall have con- 

42 


THE QUEST 


43 


verted this evidence of the creative genius of an all wise 
Father into the desolation of civilization, where the 
hand of every man is against that of his neighbor, where 
ill-gotten gains will be the criterion of the fitness of men 
to be placed upon the pedestal of fame, and where pov- 
erty will be a crime and lack of wealth a disgrace? Will 
it be a place where the enlightened American will come 
with his detestable firewater, and worse habits of fast 
living and libertinism, and destroy the soul as well as 
the body of the present happy child of nature who 
worships in God’s first temples? The march of civiliza- 
tion of which we boast so much, has it not been the 
march of the destroying angel ? And will it not continue 
to be a march of destruction until the enlightened civilized 
white men shall have put away from among them those 
terrible habits and practices which are dragging men and 
women into deeper destruction than if they had never 
heard the tramp of the civilizing host? 

On the morning of the fourth day after entering the 
mouth of the river, the Bessie G fastened her lines to 
a wharf in Ciudad de Bolivar, a city of about twelve 
thousand inhabitants, composed of Spanish, Portuguese, 
English and half-breeds. The ubiquitous American is 
there looking after the almighty dollar, totally disre- 
garding his health, which is being destroyed by malaria 
and bad water. 

As soon as it was possible Mr. Adams went on shore 
and made his way to the office of the American Consul, a 
Mr. Goodwin, whom, when he had found, he informed 
of his object in coming to South America, and asked 
leave to have a private interview. This was cheerfully 
granted. After this interview Mr. Adams went on board 
of the Bessie G and told the captain that he would have 
his belongings sent to the house of the Consul and would 
start for the interior the following day. 


44 


THE QUEST 


That night he spent in writing letters home, which the 
captain promised to mail at Port of Spain, where he 
intended calling for orders. 

The next morning Mr. Adams procured the services 
of an Indian guide, belonging to a tribe called Gaucho. 
He was a tall, splendidly developed man about thirty 
years old, and wore trousers of leather, tanned a deep 
yellow, and a loose-fitting tunic of the same material, but 
tanned a light brown. His hat was cone-shaped and 
made from twisted grass woven so closely as to hold 
water without leaking. He carried a rifle, an old Snyder 
that had evidently been obtained from some Englishman, 
a long spear, the head of which was bronze, a grass 
rope about fifty feet long, and a musical instrument 
resembling a guitar. His feet were protected by wooden 
sandals, fastened on by thin broad leather thongs. His 
facial expression would have made life miserable for a 
physiognomist, it was such a complete blank. His eyes 
were large, brown and soft, but with a certain fire in them 
which made Mr. Adams feel that his guide’s friendship, 
if once gained, would be lasting and his enmity would 
be swift destruction. With the aid of this guide Mr. 
Adams procured a canoe sixteen feet long, made from 
the trunk of a tree dug out and capable of safely carrying 
at least six persons. In this everything necessary for 
the journey up the river was packed. The Indian took 
only two days’ supply of food on board, and on Mr. 
Adams suggesting that this was not sufficient, the guide, 
pointing first to the river and then to the forest, said: 
“Plenty there.” 

Before leaving, Mr. Adams went on board of the 
brig to say good-bye to Captain Berne and his crew, for 
during the voyage he had become a great favorite with 
all hands on board. He asked the captain to see some 
of his friends in Boston on his return and tell them that 


THE QUEST 


45 


he was starting out well equipped and that if anything 
came in the way, his rifle and that of his guide would 
certainly be able to take care of them. The captain told 
him that they had more to fear from the many different 
tribes of Indians and half-breeds than from wild beasts. 
“For/’ said he, “since the advent of the white man among 
the Indian inhabitants of the new world, and especially 
the Spaniard, the poor natives cannot be blamed if they 
not only look with an eye of suspicion on every white 
face, but if they, in a spirit of self-preservation, annihilate 
everyone who crosses their path. I have seen them all 
over this Central and South America, in ports where I 
have called, brought to the lowest grades of degradation 
by what they have received at the hands of the paleface. 
They have been changed from a proud, self-reliant, happy 
people to slaves of a far worse type than those who 
cursed the United States before the war and since. I 
believe, too, that you will find the full-blooded native 
much less to be dreaded than those who have been unfor- 
tunate enough as to have some of the blood of the white 
race in their veins. I would not be too ready to destroy 
the life of any of these untutored natives, except in order 
to save your own life, and I think that you will rarely 
find it necessary if you respect their rights. And now, 
Mr. Adams, good-bye, and when you return to Boston 
look me up, for after this voyage I intend to retire, and 
I will be glad to see you and get an account of your trip 
and what came of it.” 


CHAPTER VIII. 


FROM ANGOSTURA TO SAN FERNANDO DE ATABAPO. 

They left Angostura about two o’clock in the after- 
noon, and at dark camped eight miles up the river. As 
soon as their hammocks had been arranged, the guide 
made a torch of dry palm leaves and taking his spear 
got into the canoe and pushed out into the stream. He 
returned in half an hour with two fish, each weighing 
about eight pounds and somewhat resembling the stur- 
geon of North American waters. These he dressed and 
cooked before a fire which he readily made of dried 
palm leaf stems. 

Mr. Adams suffered much from the flies while this 
meal was being prepared, and was therefore glad to 
get into his hammock and cover himself with a netting 
that the Consul at Angostura had advised him to take 
with him. The early part of the night he was kept 
awake by the screaming of a bird of brilliant plumage 
and in form resembling the parrot, but in habits more 
resembling the mockingbird of the middle and southern 
states:' 

When Mr. Adams awoke the next morning the sun 
was just rising and the guide had breakfast ready. This 
meal consisted of meat of a peculiar but not unpleasant 
flavor and was exceedingly tender. It was the flesh of 
an animal closely resembling the peccary, and evidently 
belonging to the same general order of vertebrates as the 
tapir and peccary, all of which seem to be an evolvement 
of a class of prehistoric animals, the fossilized remains 
of which have been found in various parts of the world. 

46 


THE QUEST 


47 


There was also a vegetable very much like our Irish 
potato* that is found growing in the dry sandy soil of the 
higher ground drained by the Orinoco and upper Ama- 
zon, and forms a very important article of diet for the 
Indians and half-breeds of this region. They also had 
fresh ripe Brazil nuts. As soon as breakfast was eaten 
they started on up the great river. They passed many 
small, dilapidated native villages, but did not stop until 
noon, when the guide ran the canoe into a small igarape 
or channel that ran at right angles to the river. Here 
the vegetation was so dense that the sky could not be 
seen. Immense palms of several species grew to enor- 
mous size and height. The Mauritia, which bears clus- 
ters of a bright red fruit, the Raphia, with its beautiful, 
graceful leaves at least forty feet long, the Manicaria, 
with its enormous stiff leaves thirty feet long, and many 
others which Mr. Adams could not name, but which he 
could not help admire. While he was wondering at the 
immensity and grandeur of this unsurpassable vegeta- 
tion, the canoe came suddenly into an open space, and 
on the right bank was a native house or sito outside of 
which men and women sat eating. The guide at once 
landed, and making the canoe fast to a small reed called 
the Murici, he took up his harp, and motioning Mr. 
Adams to follow, he walked without ceremony up to 
the diners, and seating himself, began to talk in the low- 
guttural Indian tongue. The natives neither displayed 
nor expressed surprise, but at once placed before the 
travelers a most bountiful meal, consisting of fish, meat, 
vegetables, fruit, cakes, and a drink made from the fruit 
of the Cacao tree, which is cultivated by all the natives 
on this river as well as on the upper Amazon. The 
fish resembled the black bass of the great lakes, the meat 
was the flesh of a small deer or antelope, the fruit was 
a small and poorly flavored orange, and the cakes were 


48 


THE QUEST 


made of the ground and prepared Mandioca root, and 
were not unpalatable. The house or sito was a roof 
thickly thatched with palm leaves, set on posts that were 
firmly driven into the ground, and it had one side wall 
toward the east. Under this roof a number of ham- 
mocks were hung, for all the Indians in this region sleep 
in hammocks as a protection against insects and reptiles 
which here abound both in numbers and kinds. The 
hammocks are made of a long, wiry grass which grows 
in the swamps on both sides of the river. 

Having partaken of a hearty meal, the travelers em- 
barked again, after procuring some of the farina with 
which to make cakes. Passing out through the igarape, 
they gained the broad river, against whose current 
they worked their way farther into the heart of the 
jungle. 

The guide told Mr. Adams that after they passed the 
Aro river they would do well to avoid all Indians until 
they reached Cabruta, where the Apure river empties its 
waters into the great channel of the Orinoco, which at 
this point comes from the south. He said that after 
that there were some good Indians and some very bad 
ones, who killed and ate those whom they captured. 
This was not very cheery news for Mr. Adams, and 
from this time on he practised more with his rifle. 

When they neared the confluence of the Caura river, 
which comes from the south, they rested during the 
day and moved on their journey during the night, so 
as to avoid meeting with any “undesirable citizens.” 
This they did at the rivers Suato, Aracai and Espino, 
coming in from the north, and the Cuchiiero, coming 
from the south. Thus they traveled this two hundred 
miles without incident worthy of special mention, until 
they had gotten within a day’s journey of Cabruta, where 


THE QUEST 


49 


occurred their first adventure, which seriously impeded 
their progress and which threatened to end their voyage 
disastrously. 

At noon, when they had steered the canoe into a 
small igarape, to prepare and eat their midday meal, 
the Indian’s quick and experienced eye detected some- 
thing in the semi-darkness at the edge of the water. 
Motioning Mr. Adams to keep quiet, he seized his spear 
and lightly stepped on shore. Advancing a few steps, 
he suddenly raised himself to his full height, grasped 
his weapon tightly, and with all the strength in his 
powerful frame threw it at something a few yards in 
advance. 

There was a sudden roar of pain, and the next mo- 
ment the Indian was borne to the ground by the weight 
of an infuriated and wounded jaguar. Sudden and 
unexpected as the attack was, the Indian was not un- 
prepared. He caught the animal by the throat with 
both hands, and thus saved himself from the fangs of 
the furious beast, but his right side and leg were torn 
by the animal’s claws. Mr. Adams was quick to realize 
the danger, and, catching up his rifle, he sprang out of 
the canoe and rushed to the aid of his guide. 

Man and beast were struggling for the mastery, and it 
was with some difficulty and at great risk to his own 
life that he succeeded in placing the muzzle of his rifle 
to the jaguar’s ear and sending a bullet through its brain. 
The guide was terribly torn, but no bones were broken 
and no vital parts injured, and Mr. Adams set himself 
to the task of dressing the wounds. He knew enough 
of modern surgery to understand the necessity of clean- 
liness, and, building a fire, he soon heated some water. 
After bathing the lacerated tissues, he, by the use of 
adhesive plaster and bandages which he had wisely 
brought with him, succeeded in getting the poor Indian 


50 


THE QUEST 


dressed surgically, so that he was not only fairly com- 
fortable but also in a comparatively safe condition, so 
far as the danger of infection was concerned. 

He then, at the suggestion of the Indian, skinned the 
jaguar and succeeded in stretching the skin so that it 
might dry without spoiling. The guide would not be 
able to move for some days, and on Mr. Adams devolved 
not only the duties of nurse but also that of provider. 
He succeeded in shooting a few birds about the size of 
partridges, and also in catching some fish, the latter evi- 
dently not being full grown, the back-bone not having 
reached a state of complete ossification. The flesh of 
the jaguar Mr. Adams could not eat, but the Indian 
declared it good, and had Mr. Adams cook some for 
him. The next day Mr. Adams shot a peccary, and 
found some fruit and wild potatoes, which added greatly 
to their store of food. He waited on the guide care- 
fully, and had the satisfaction of seeing him recovering 
rapidly. 

On the morning of the tenth day after the accident the 
wind was blowing fresh up the river, and they decided to 
start for Cabruta. The guide was not able to use the 
paddle, but Mr. Adams could manage very well while the 
wind was in his favor. About dark they had the satis- 
faction of arriving at this town, which had a population 
of about two thousand, mostly Spanish and Portuguese. 
Some Americans were there, looking after the india- 
rubber trade, and with these Mr. Adams had several 
conversations, with the result that he decided to go by 
the way of the Guaviare river, instead of the route he 
had planned; viz., by the way of the Cassiquari, which 
connects the Orinoco with the waters of the Amazon. 
The new route would take him in a westerly direction 
near to the seventy-second degree of longitude and as 
far south as the second degree of north latitude, and, 







































































































































A PECCARY 


r 



A THREE-TOED TAPIR 


THE QUEST 51 

as far as Mr. Adams could judge, very near to that 
part of the country where he wished to go. 

After resting here for ten days in order to give his 
guide plenty of time to recover his strength, and also to 
find out as much as possible about the country through 
which he was about to travel, and the character of the 
native population, they started out, their next objective 
point being San Fernando de Atabapo, where the Guavi- 
a're disembogues into the Orinoco. The river here runs 
through a level stretch of country for hundreds of miles, 
and, though deep, the current was not strong, and they 
therefore had easy paddling most of the time. Days 
when the wind was against them they would rest or 
try to make only a short journey, but when the wind 
was in their favor they more than made up for their 
loss of time. They were now traveling south, and 
could see the San Siquiti and the San Marpichi moun- 
tains to the east. 

They had reached the Sipapo river, which comes into 
the Orinoco from the east and about half-way between 
Cabruta and Atabapo before anything occurred to dis- 
turb the serenity of their voyage. It was early one 
morning, and they had passed the mouth of the Sipapo 
about two hours before sunrise, and were looking for a 
good place to land and rest, when a canoe loaded with 
Indians, twelve in all, came swiftly around a bend in 
the river. There were two paddling on each side of 
the canoe, and, coming with the current, they were going 
at a rapid rate. The moment they saw Mr. Adams’ 
canoe they stopped paddling and backed water, but only 
for a moment, for they soon discovered there were only 
two men, and therefore not enough in number to give 
them any concern. 


52 


THE QUEST 


The guide told Mr. Adams that these were bad In- 
dians, and that they should not allow them to come too 
close, but to get his rifle ready and shoot them as fast 
as he could ; and then the guide caught up his rifle and 
prepared to shoot. Mr. Adams told him not to shoot, 
but to wait until he gave the word. When the canoe 
load of Indians had gotten close enough so that they 
could hear what he said, Mr. Adams told them to keep 
away, at the same time motioning to them so that they 
would understand. They stopped paddling and allowed 
their canoe to drift, and then Mr. Adams told the guide 
to take his paddle and attempt to make a landing on the 
east bank of the river, where there seemed to be an 
open space free from jungle. 

When the Indians saw this, they started for the canoe, 
but Mr. Adams pointed his rifle at them and gave them 
to understand that he would do them harm if they per- 
sisted in coming too near. 

They talked a few minutes, and, seeming to decide that 
they were being bluffed, they again came towards Mr. 
Adams’ canoe. He then put his rifle to his shoulder, 
and, aiming above their heads, fired. The effect was 
not what he expected. The Indians, instead of ap- 
pearing alarmed, redoubled their efforts to reach them 
before they should land. Mr. Adams then told the 
guide to make every effort to reach the shore, and he 
then stood up and fired at the bow of the canoe, just 
above the water line. They stopped paddling, and be- 
fore they realized what was the trouble, one of the In- 
dians had the paddle shot out of his hand by a bullet 
from Mr. Adams’ unerring rifle. 

This caused a good deal of consternation among the 
Indians, and gave Mr. Adams and the guide an oppor- 
tunity of reaching the shore. They ran the canoe up 


THE QUEST 


53 


on a little strip of sandy beach, and, springing out, pre- 
pared to defend themselves. The guide stuck his spear 
in the sand beside him, and stood ready with his rifle 
to shoot at command, and Mr. Adams refilled the maga- 
zine of his rifle and waited for whatever might follow. 
One of the Indians in the canoe seemed to be engaged in 
stopping the leak caused by the bullet from Mr. Adams’ 
rifle, and the others held a consultation. 

After a few minutes they approached slowly and 
cautiously, and when within fifty yards of the shore one 
of their number stood up and began to talk, addressing 
himself to the party on the beach. They gathered from 
his gesticulations and manner of speech that they wished 
to convey to them the idea that they did not mean to 
harm them, but their previous actions had prejudiced 
them in the minds of both Mr. Adams and the guide. 
Mr. Adams told them, principally by signs, that they 
were not in any great need of companionship, especially 
of their stripe, and that the best thing for them to do 
was to continue their journey on down the river, whither 
they seemed to be bound when they were first discovered. 
He also indicated to them as plainly as possible that 
if they still persisted in forcing their company upon un- 
willing hosts, there was liable to be something happen 
that would be more disagreeable than anything that had 
gone before. 

Just at this moment a small deer came out of the 
jungle on the opposite bank of the river, which was here 
about two hundred yards wide, and Mr. Adams, point- 
ing to the animal to call the attention of the Indians to 
it, raised his rifle and fired. The deer fell dead with 
a bullet in its brain. The Indians in the canoe at once 
started for the opposite shore, to see what had happened 
to the deer. They all got out, and after carefully exam - 


54 


THE QUEST 


ining the dead animal, got in the canoe and started down 
the stream, keeping close to the west bank. As soon as 
they were out of sight, Mr. Adams and the guide got 
in their canoe and started up the river, watching care- 
fully for a good place to land and hide their canoe and 
to remain until night. This kind of a place they soon 
discovered, and here they remained until after sunset. 

From this time on the most of their journey was made 
during the night, until they reached Atabapo, situated 
in Venezuelan territory, and, as has already been said, at 
the confluence of the Guaviare and the Orinoco. Here 
was the usual population of half-breeds, with a few full- 
blooded Spaniards and Portuguese, one Englishman and 
three Americans. The city is beautifully located but 
poorly built, the houses being all built of bamboo with 
thatched roofs. Here there is more fruit cultivated 
than at any other place they had seen after leaving An- 
gostura. 

They had also quite extensive fields of man- 
dioca and casiva, from which all their bread is made. 
They remained here for ten days in order to rest, pro- 
cure supplies, and gain what information they could as 
to the character of the country through which they in- 
tended to travel, as well as of the Indians with whom 
they would be likely to come in contact. When the 
Englishman and the Americans learned of the voyage 
that Mr. Adams had already taken, and further of the 
one intended, they were amazed, and told him plainly 
that they thought he was a lunatic to have undertaken 
such a trip. As for him thinking of going further, 
they said it was suicidal, for almost all the Indians along 
the course of the Guaviare were considered cannibals, 
and said the Englishman : “Hi would want a Gatlin’ gun 
hand a regiment hof red-coats with me before Hi would 
go ten miles hup that river.” 


THE QUEST 


55 


One day, while at this place, Mr. Adams and one of 
the Americans, with some natives, went out for a deer 
hunt, and had the good luck to get four. When they 
returned, the American said : “I guess there is no danger, 
but Mr. Adams will be able to take care of himself as 
long as his ammunition holds out.” He had seen Mr. 
Adams shoot a running deer at fully three hundred 
yards. 


CHAPTER IX. 


THE TRIP UP THE GUAVIARE. 

On the third day of April the travelers started away 
from Atabapo on their perilous journey up the Guaviare, 
a trip that no white man had ever before attempted, so 
far as the “oldest inhabitant” of Atabapo knew. They 
were accompanied until noon by the Englishman and the 
two Americans. They landed on a low, sandy beach on 
the south side of the river. Here the jungle came al- 
most to the water’s edge, but on the north side of the 
river there was, as far as the eye could tell, a boundless 
plain covered with high, coarse grass, with here and there 
a solitary monster cottonwood, which seemed to stand 
as a sentinel. After they had partaken of their mid- 
day meal and were about to separate, the Englishman 
called Mr. Adams aside and gave him a small revolver 
and several boxes of cartridges, and told him that he 
had better carry it well concealed, so that, in case they 
were captured and their other arms were taken from 
them, he would still have some means of offense and de- 
fense. Mr. Adams thanked him for the thoughtful- 
ness which prompted the gift, and gave him an address, 
telling that should he ever be in Boston to be sure and 
call, and he would show him a good time. The English- 
man smiled and said, “Hi wish Hi could be as sure hof 
your being there has my being there.” They parted 
with many good wishes on both sides, the Englishman 
and the Americans returning to Atabapo and the travel- 
ers continuing their journey. 

56 



ON THE GUAVIARE RIVER 































































THE QUEST 


57 


About the seventieth degree of west longitude, which 
they reached on the first of May without adventure or 
accident, they found the river rough and rapid, and 
many times they were compelled to get out of the canoe, 
and, wading waist deep in the water, push their boat on 
up the stream. This was exhausting work, and they 
would make but a few miles each day. However, after 
about twenty miles of this rough water they again 
reached a more level country, and therefore smoother 
water, and they were able to make better time with a 
great deal less labor. 

One evening, when the sun was setting, they reached 
the mouth of the Ariari river, which comes into the 
Guaviare from the north, and were about to land and 
camp for the night when they saw smoke rising above 
the tree tops about half a mile ahead. They at once 
stopped and allowed the canoe to drift back down the 
river until out of sight of that part of the river where 
the smoke appeared, and then, guiding their canoe among 
some overhanging brush which grew on the south bank 
of the river, they fastened their boat and decided to 
remain on “board” for the night. Their supper, which 
consisted of smoked deer meat and nuts, they ate in 
silence, and feeling secure from observation by the In- 
dians, they both covered themselves up and slept until 
nearly daylight. As soon as it was sufficiently light, 
the guide said he would go on shore and work his way 
through the jungle up the stream, and try and discover 
if there were any Indians in sight. 

Mr. Adams remained in the canoe, and, finding him- 
self alone, gave way to his loneliness in a flood of tears. 
In the abandonment of his anguish he said to himself, 
“Would God be with him in his undertaking? Would 
he accomplish the desired end? Why should man be 
afraid of his fellows? Did not men prey upon each 


58 


THE QUEST 


other in the enlightened city of Boston? Was there 
not a constant warfare being waged all over the civilized 
world, the strong against the weak, until the poor and 
weaker classes were ground into a slavery of submis- 
sion in which ambition is destroyed and humanity is 
rendered more brutal than the herds which roam over 
the uncultivated acres of the ‘money kings’ of the coun- 
try? Oh, that the early training of the masses and of 
the classes were guided and grounded upon that univer- 
sal ethical principle called the Golden Rule, what a won- 
derful change a half-century would make over all the 
earth.” 

While he was thus thinking, the guide returned and 
reported that he had seen four canoe-loads of Indians 
push out into the river from where they had seen the 
smoke, and go up the stream, and because of the fact 
that there did not seem to be any women among them, 
he thought that they were fighters and were having a 
war with some other tribe, and that it would be well 
for them to remain where they were for a few days 
until they had quieted down; for, he explained, “They 
eat many prisoners, get very fat, and no do anything 
for ten days after.” 

Mr. Adams considered the guide’s reasons sufficiently 
strong, so they set about finding a place where they could 
effectually hide their canoe. This they did in a small 
stream coming in on the south side of the river, and 
where the jungle was most dense and did not seem to 
have ever been disturbed by man or beast. Here they 
remained for four days, carefully reconnoitering each 
day to discover if any Indians were in sight. On the 
morning of the fourth day they saw four canoes, with a 
number of Indians in each, and a fifth empty, which was 
being towed. They came down until they reached the 
mouth of the Ariari, up which they paddled and were 


THE QUEST 


59 


soon lost to view. That afternoon Mr. Adams and the 
guide started, and cautiously wended their way towards 
the west, until they arrived at the seventy- third degree 
of longitude. Here the river turned sharply to the 
south and carried them almost to the second degree of 
north latitude. The first morning after their enforced 
rest at the mouth of the Ariari river they landed to rest 
and eat on a strip of low, grassy shore. Here they dis- 
covered evidences of a battle between the Indians, and 
also the horrible remains of their after-battle feast. Mr. 
Adams was completely overcome by this awful sight, 
and without eating or resting, they again started on their 
journey. 

When they had reached about the seventy-third degree 
of longitude, the course of the river was to the south, 
and in this direction they traveled until they found the 
course again changed and going directly to the west. 
Here Mr. Adams decided to leave the river and still 
travel toward the south, in the hope of soon reaching 
some branch of the upper Amazon. Here they hid their 
canoe, leaving in it all unnecessary trappings, the guide 
very reluctantly leaving his beloved guitar. Fortunately 
the country through which they decided to go was more 
an open forest rather than a dense jungle, with here and 
there wide stretches of grass-covered plain. There was 
no need for them to suffer for food, for game was plenti- 
ful, and edible fruit and roots grew everywhere. 

After they had been traveling overland for twenty 
days, they camped one night in the jungle near an open 
plain to the east, beyond which was a range of moun- 
tains, which they afterwards learned were the Los Ama- 
guas. They had seen no Indians after leaving the river, 
and, being weary and without fear, they slept soundly 
until the sun was showing his shining face above the 
eastern hills. An exclamation from the guide aroused 


THE QUEST 


60 

Mr. Adams, and he awoke to find himself and guide the 
center of observation of twenty Indians, each dressed 
in thin trousers which came to the knee, and a broad- 
brimmed grass hat with a high and pointed crown. They 
each had a spear and machete. Their hair, which was 
long and black, was not of that coarse character so often 
found among the Indians, and it was braided in one 
piece and allowed to hang down the back. 

As soon as Mr. Adams had divested himself of his 
mosquito netting and stood up, the Indians all fell with 
their faces to the earth, and in perfect silence remained 
in this position for two or three minutes, and on Mr. 
Adams addressing the guide, asking him what this meant, 
they all stood up, and one of them, addressing the travel- 
ers, said: ‘‘Come, father; he there.” To say that they 
were astonished to hear even these few words of Eng- 
lish spoken in this wilderness, so many hundred miles 
away from all civilization, is but mildly expressing the 
truth. Mr. Adams then asked them what they in- 
tended to do with them, and they all cried out at once, 
“No harm; come.” 

Mr. Adams at once saw the wisdom of complying with 
the request of the Indians, for resistance was useless, 
and then, the mildness and earnestness of manner of 
the Indians assured them that certainly no harm was 
intended. Mr. Adams then gave them to understand 
that they wished to have something to eat before start- 
ing, and he told the guide to prepare their morning meal, 
which consisted of venison, wild potatoes, nuts and fruit. 

When the Indians saw what was being prepared, 
several of them started into the jungle, and brought a 
plentiful supply of ground nut meal, which they carried 
in leather sacks, and from which they made cakes, and 
which they toasted before the fire that the guide had 
made. The travelers had sufficient meat for all, as 


THE QUEST 


61 


they had killed a young buck only the evening before. 
After they had partaken of a hearty meal, they started, 
going due south, the Indians carrying Mr. Adams’ load, 
except the gun, which he preferred to take care of him- 
self. They rested at noon-time only long enough to 
prepare and eat some nut cakes, and about the middle of 
the afternoon they found the jungle growing more dense, 
and thus knew that they were approaching a river. 

The Indians all this time said nothing to Mr. Adams, 
and when interrogated would only reply, “Wait.” They 
talked in their own tongue among themselves, and seemed 
mightily pleased; so much so that frequently they would 
laugh heartily, something so unusual among Indians that 
the two travelers became somewhat alarmed, and decided 
that when they reached the river they would discover 
the Indians’ intentions or refuse to go further. 

The sun was still two hours high when they arrived 
at the banks of the river, where were several large canoes 
capable of holding many people. Here Mr. Adams 
and the guide separated themselves from the Indians, 
and keeping them well in front of them, told them that 
they would go no further until they knew what was in- 
tended. They held their guns so that the Indians would 
know what was meant, providing they had ever seen 
such a thing as a gun before. Their actions proved 
that they had, for they all threw up their hands and 
said, “No shoot.” The Indians then talked among 
themselves, and seeming to come to a decision, five of 
them started in a canoe across the river, leaving the other 
fifteen presumably to act as guards. 

After remaining here about an hour, they saw the 
canoe coming back, and as it approached they were as- 
tonished and delighted to see among the Indians a white 
man with long brown beard and hair, and dressed in 
coat and pants. As soon as the canoe touched the 


62 


THE QUEST 


shore the white man sprang out, and going at once to 
Mr. Adams, he held out his hand and said: “Allow me 
to welcome you as the second white man who has ever 
had the foolhardiness to be found in this wild and al- 
most inaccessible country. My name is Patrick O’Brian, 
or, as those untutored and innocent children of the jungle 
call me, ‘the white god,’ and I am at your service. Have 
you friends in these parts that you are going to visit, 
or are you lost, and wish to find a way out?” 

“My name is Adams,” said the one addressed, “and I 
am trying to get to the head waters of the Amazon, 
and my object in doing so must for the present remain 
undisclosed; and this is my guide,” turning to him who 
was standing close to his master. “He has accompanied 
me all the way from Angostura.” 

“And did you two come all the way up the river from 
Angostura? I left there over three years ago, and 
would not go through the same experience again for the 
whole of South America. But come to the city and be 
made comfortable, and then you can tell me the story 
of your trip at your leisure. It is good to see a white 
face again, and to be able to talk in the natural tongue. 
I have been trying to teach these heathens to talk civilized 
language, but it is hard work.” 

“I am very glad you have,” said Mr. Adams; “other- 
wise we might not have accompanied them so willingly.” 

Then they all got into canoes, and, going down the 
river a few hundred yards, they landed on the opposite 
shore and proceeded up a steep and narrow path. The 
Indians all went in advance, leaving Pat, Mr. Adams, 
and the guide to come along at a less tiresome gait. 


CHAPTER X. 


pat’s HOME AMONG THE INDIANS. 

They arrived at the gate of the city, for such it proved 
to be, about sunset, and were accosted by an Indian of 
herculean build, and with the features of a classic, who, 
on seeing Pat, at once fell upon his knees and assumed 
the attitude of a supplicant. This confirmed what Pat 
had said about being considered “a god” by these people. 
After addressing himself to Pat, he turned to Mr. Adams, 
and, bowing his head in graceful humility, addressed him 
as “the son of the white god.” The guide during this 
time stood like a bronze statue without uttering a word, 
but as soon as the Indian ceased speaking and motioned 
for them to enter, he having thrown the gate open, he 
placed his hand on Mr. Adams’ shoulder and said, “Don’t 
go in there, for they will never allow you to get away.” 

When the Indian saw this he approached the guide in 
a threatening attitude, but Pat stepped between them, and 
in a tongue unknown to them he calmed the Indian into 
peacefulness. Pat then explained to them that the 
Indian said that the guide should not go into the city; 
“but,” said he, reverting to his native brogue, “be jabers. 
here is a good place to show the dirty baste that he 
can’t dictate to the ‘gods,’ and if you will allow me to 
have that revolver I see sticking out av your bilt I’ll tache 
the big haythen that it’s a dangerous trick to say no when 
the ‘white god’ says yes.” 

Having procured the revolver from Mr. Adams, he 
again addressed the Indian, apparently expostulating with 
him, but the fellow seemed obdurate. Just then a lean 

63 


64 


THE QUEST 


and hungrv-looking dog came sneaking out of the city, 
which, as soon as Pat saw, he said something to the 
Indian, and then, pointing to the dog, fired. The ani- 
mal fell dead without a yelp, and the Indian, falling 
upon his knees, assured them that the guide could go 
into the city and would be provided for with the greatest 
care. 

They then all walked through the gate, which the In- 
dian closed and securely bolted, after which he led them 
through a long narrow street, on each side of which 
were substantial stone houses, two stories high, the upper 
story being without a front wall, but capable of being 
closed at pleasure by a curtain or lattice made of bamboo, 
and which most of the time, night and day, remained 
rolled up under the eave. This, Mr. Adams learned, 
had been the result of Pat’s teaching. 

After walking fully half a mile due east, as Mr. Adams 
discovered by consulting his compass, they came to an 
open park or plaza, on the farther side of which was a 
large two-story white stone building, oval in form, and 
enclosing a large court one hundred feet across and 
two hundred and fifty feet in length. The building it- 
self was forty feet in depth, and had hallways around 
on both stories on the side nearest the enclosed court, 
and from these halls, doors opened into rooms which 
all fronted on the plaza that surrounded the building. 
Surrounding the whole building were verandas for both 
upper and lower stories, and all supported by massive 
stone pillars, those of the lower story being without or- 
namentation, but the upper ones, which approached the 
Corinthian type, were exquisitely carved, showing vines, 
among the leaves of which could be seen birds of various 
sizes and species, and, as far as Mr. Adams could tell, 
all true to nature, and not the fantastic imaginings, such 
as are found in Egypt and India and other Eastern coun- 
tries. 


THE QUEST 


65 


The roof of this building was flat and covered with 
large stone flags about half an inch thick and carefully 
cemented so as to prevent any leaking. On the top 
of the wall, about every twenty feet, was a cupola or 
dome-shaped minaret rising above the roof of the main 
building to a height of fifteen feet, and having but one 
opening, and that facing the east. This window, or, 
more properly, door, opened out on a narrow balcony, 
which completely encircled the tower. The tops of 
these minarets were covered with sheets of silver beaten 
almost as thin as paper. Two of these minarets were 
surmounted by golden crosses, marking the place where 
Pat had been living during the past three years, and were 
put there by his express command, and, as he said, “To 
show the Indians that he was no heathen, but a true 
Christian.” This building was the abode of the priests, 
or, more properly, the princes, their wives and relatives, 
the oldest male acting as high priest or king. 

Each prince is allowed to have only one wife, and she 
must have only one son and not more than two daugh- 
ters, so that if the first-born is a son there are no more 
children born to these parents, and if the first two chil- 
dren happen to be daughters, the family does not then 
increase. The daughters of the princes are the artists 
who do all of the carving in wood, stone, gold and silver, 
and of the last two there seems to be a great abundance. 
The princes procure all of the stone for building and 
ornamentation, as well as the necessary gold and silver 
for all purposes. 

The men of this tribe, for such they can properly be 
termed, who are not of royal blood, cultivate the fields, 
where they grow toro, yams, potatoes, arrowroot, and 
all kinds of tropical fruits. They also do all the hunt- 
ing and procuring of game, as the princes are strictly 
forbidden to shed blood. The women prepare the food, 


66 


THE QUEST 


shear the alpaca, and convert the wool into clothing, car- 
pets, tapestry and other fabrics. The unmarried prin- 
cesses have charge of the children of the whole tribe 
from the time they are one year old until they are ten, 
when they are declared free, and all they learn in that 
time is to be submissive. 

Pat’s description of a revolt on the part of a number 
of these children against the old maids was so ridicu- 
lously funny that Mr. Adams could not but laugh heartily. 
In telling it, Pat used the brogue of his boyhood days. 
He said: “Ye know, the ould maids are always after 
the little spalpeens, trying to get them to wash their 
faces and comb their black hair, and divil a thing else 
do they tache them. So one day about a hundred of 
the little black-headed divils were playin’ in a mud puddle 
up west of the city, making mud pies and mud balls, 
which, by the way I tached them meself, when along 
conies ten of the ould maid teachers, each with a willy 
switch in her hand. They called to the kids to stop 
playin’ in the mud and form in line at once and march 
through the city to the lake in the park and wash them- 
selves. I was layin’ down in the shade of a big bunch 
of plantain, takin’ me siesta, after havin’ given the kid- 
lets their first lesson in pie-makin’, and the sour-faced 
ould bunch couldn't see me ; but when I heard them 
yellin’ at the little pie-makers I set up and peered through 
the leaves to see what might happen. I had not put 
the little divils up to any mischief, sure, but I just hap- 
pened to say that if any one of them should be throwin’ 
a mud-ball at a toucan, and it missed the bird and hit 
one of them tachers in the eye, then there would be 
trouble. 

“Well, now, do you mind, children are all alike the 
world over, and when these ould maid tachers .started 
yellin’ I see the kids get together where they had twq 


THE QUEST 


67 


big heaps of mud-balls. I didn’t dare come out from 
behind the plantains, for fear I would spoil the kids’ 
fun, so I just stayed there and watched. When the 
ould maids had got about twenty feet from the little 
ones, such a shower of mud you never see before. There 
wasn’t one of them tachers but received two or three of 
them mud-balls in the eye or mouth, and as they had 
their mouths open yellin’ at the kids, the mud got in 
their throats, and such a coughin’ and a splutterin’ I 
never heard. 

“The ould maids were game, and after havin’ divested 
themselves of all superfluous mud they started to charge 
the young ones. Durin’ the coughin’ and the splutterin’ 
of the tachers the kids held to their guns and did not 
waste any ammunition, but when the ould maids charged 
they were met by another volley of mud-balls, which 
made it not only impossible for them to see, but ren- 
dered them incapable of utterin’ any articulate sounds. 
The kids then retrated in good order to another pile of 
mud-balls that they had made first; in fact, the same 
that I had taught them to make, and as they had been 
lyin’ in the sun they were somewhat dry and hard. By 
this time the opposin’ party had coughed up a good lot 
of the mud that they had swallowed, and picked a hand- 
ful or two out of each eye, and were ready to charge 
again. 

“They came on in good order until they were within 
about ten paces of their rebellious pupils, when, by the 
piper that played before Moses, if them kids didn’t 
send a volley of them dry mud-balls into the ranks of 
the tachers which would have blinded the army of Bony- 
part before it was scattered by the Juke of Wellington. 
The ould maids retrated in wild confusion, and the 
kids stood their ground. I did think it about time to 
appear On the scene and stop the battle, but I could not 


68 


THE QUEST 


stand up for laffin’, and I was holdin’ me sides so hard 
to keep from burstin’, and I was so red in the face I 
was afraid that if they saw me in that predicament they 
would not recognize me as the 'white god’ any more; so 
by the powers, I just rolled and laffed till the tears run 
down me cheeks. 

“After a while T composed mesilf, and fearin’ that 
another charge would be made, for these ould maids 
have got lots of sand, I leisurely sauntered out from 
me hidin’ place with a calm and placid countenance, and 
placin’ me two hands towards the children in the atti- 
tude of blessin’ them and performin’ the same graceful 
act for the tachers, for I had to keep up the delusion. 

I told them all to follow me. I led them around by a 
windin’ path down to the river to the south of the city, 
and commanded them to wash and be clean, and in the 
future to behave like dacent Indians, and not like dirty 
h ay then s.” 

After leading Mr. Adams and the guide through the 
park, they stopped at the entrance of an oval building, 
which they were told to enter. Pat took the lead, and 
after going up a flight of stone steps they were ushered 
into an apartment twenty-eight feet long and twenty 
feet wide, and furnished with every comfort. The 
floors, which were of stone, were partly covered with 
exquisitely woven rugs of many colors and patterns. Pat 
assured them that these people were more civilized than 
many who lived in America or “even in ould Ireland.” 

Here are found no poor or needy ones, for all share 
alike, and all work for the public good, and not for per- 
sonal aggrandizement. They are, as far as can be 
learned, a remnant of the Aztecs, for they have a legend 
which says that their forefathers came from the far 
north, whence they were driven by people who came 
from over the seas on fish which had wings. Other 




ON THE APOPORIS RIVER 




THE QUEST 


69 

legends, telling of the time when their ancestors lived 
in great cities, and where they had great oceans on the 
east and on the west, leave little room for reasonable 
doubt but that they are descendants of the civilized in- 
habitants of Mexico and Central America, whom the 
Spaniard so ruthlessly destroyed. Surely the history 
of the Spaniard in America reeks with blood and stands 
as a blot on the name of the nation that dared to arrogate 
to itself the title of Christian, and that carried the em- 
blem of Calvary among scenes that would put to shame 
the ferociousness of the hyena of the jungles of “darkest 
Africa.” 

These people had built their city on this tongue of 
land lying between the Macaya and Ajaju rivers, which 
join just beyond the city to form the Apoporis, which is 
a branch of the Japura, or, as it is called here, the 
Caqueta, and this in turn flows into the Amazon. This 
strip of land seems to have been designed by nature for 
just such a purpose as these poor Indians have used 
it, it being a natural fortification. At the eastern point, 
where the two rivers join, it is a thousand feet above 
the river and surrounding country, and rises so abruptly 
that it is utterly impossible to reach the city but by 
one path until you have traveled west for a distance 
of twenty miles, where it is again guarded by an abrupt 
wall of mountains stretching across from river to river, 
a distance of ten miles. 

This whole tongue of land is under cultivation, and 
produces everything in the way of food that these primi- 
tive people need, except the game, which they obtain 
from the surrounding country and the Los Amaguas 
mountains on the east. In fact, it was a hunting party 
who found Mr. Adams and brought him into the city. 
The rivers also abound in fish, which is a staple article 


70 


THE QUEST 


of diet with them. At the present time they number 
less than four thousand. They have no firearms, but 
use spears and stones. Their religion, if it can be dig- 
nified by that name, is monotheistic, and they consider 
the sun the representation of their deity. They believe 
in a future state, but as to the nature of that future 
state they have no conception. When asked where they 
expected to go after death, their reply was, “Beyond the 
big mountains where the sun goes.” 


CHAPTER XI. 


A FIGHT. 

A few days after their arrival at the city, a number 
of Indians came in bearing heavy loads, which, when 
opened, proved to be manufactured tools and implements 
for working in stone and wood, and also for agricultural 
purposes. Pat was asked to explain where they got 
these things, and he told Mr. Adams that they went 
up the Macaya river as far as they could in canoes, and 
then over the mountains to a town on the Magdalena 
river called Purification. Here they obtained what- 
ever iron or steel tools they needed, and they gave in 
exchange gold nuggets, which they obtained from the 
Macaya. 

Their religious ceremonies were conducted every day 
just at noon in the enclosed court of the oval building. 
In the center of this court was an immense concave dish 
made of solid gold, and its upper or concave surface 
polished so that it took the place of a mirror. Just 
as the sun was at its zenith the men all filed in through 
the archway, two abreast and closely marshalled, and, 
passing the golden mirror, each gave one look at him- 
self, and, passing around, filed out of the same archway 
through which they had entered. The priest or prince 
sat on a raised seat to the north of the enclosure, with 
his hands raised as if in the act of blessing the wor- 
shippers as they passed his chair. This is the only 
act of worship in which they indulged, and the women 
took no part in it. Surely here the men do not “have 
religion in their wives' names.” 

71 


72 


THE QUEST 


Their code of ethics points always to the future, and 
no matter what rule they are asked to obey, or what 
precept to follow, the promise is to the future, when they 
shall go beyond the big mountain where the sun goes ; 
thus they are held in closest check by the promise of 
happiness. But there is also the punishment for those 
who do not follow their ethical code. All such are 
doomed to die to the east of the circular building, and, 
dying there, they can never again reach the haven be- 
yond the mountains. 

There were no cripples, or blind, or imbecile, or in- 
sane among the inhabitants; every one seemed to be 
able to do the work which was placed before him or 
her, and they did it with all their might. 

One morning, when Mr. Adams awoke, after having 
been here a week, he noticed a great deal of excitement 
in the plaza. In a little while Pat came running in 
and said: “We are about to be attacked by a lot of 
dirty niggers from over the mountains, and these poor 
natives don’t know how to defend themselves. Allow 
me to have your rifle and revolver, and maybe you 
would let that big Indian of yours come along and help 
these heathens.” 

The guide had all the time been making his bed at 
Mr. Adams’ door, and he always kept his spear beside 
him. When he was told what Pat wanted, he caught 
up his spear, and the look in his eye displayed the semi- 
savage. Pat and the guide then went down among the 
Indians, and after some difficulty the Irishman succeeded 
in getting the men in some kind of order. Pat and 
the guide then took the lead, the others following. They 
went in a westerly direction, where the enemy was said 
to have been seen, and had gone about two miles when a 
messenger came running to say that the bandits were 
coming up from the river by the path that Mr. Adams 


THE QUEST 


73 


had been brought. Pat led his troops, as he called them, 
down the trail, to a point at which it made a sharp 
turn, and here he commanded them to get under cover 
and not move until they were told*. 

He took the guide with him, and, going around a spur 
of the mountains, succeeded in getting to a place where 
he had a good view of the trail about one hundred yards 
below. He had not waited long when the leaders came 
in sight. Pat at once knew them to be Spanish brigands 
from over the mountains, who had followed those who 
had been over to Purificacion, tempted by the gold which 
these people carried to trade with. Pat had only fifty 
cartridges for the rifle, which was a 30-30 Winchester, 
and he knew how to use it. There were one hundred 
of the brigands, and they must not be allowed to get 
to the plateau. Pat had chosen a good place, where 
he could see without being seen, and giving him a view 
of only about two yards of the trail. 

The first man to put his foot on that two yards of 
trail fell, and the report of the rifle rang out a warning 
note which was little heeded by the brigands. They 
came on, and the next to put his foot, or rather his head, 
in front of the sight of Pat’s rifle bit the dust to the 
tune of another note from the rifle. This was kept up 
until ten had seen their last sunshine, when Pat said, 
“Sure, the dirty niggers just seem to want to be shot. 
I believe the leader of the band is a cowardly dago, and 
is keeping in the rear to save his skin. By the powers, 
I’ll just wait and let some of them pass my little trap, 
and try. and get a shot at the star actor, and maybe that 
will put a stop to the play for the audience, which, by 
the same token, is myself, is getting tired of being the 
big villain and my name not on the list of stars.” He 
allowed forty of the brigands to pass, and then thought 


74 


THE QUEST 


it about time to tell them that he was still keeping tag 
on them, and he bowled another over with a well-directed 
shot. 

Pat now went back to where he had commanded the 
Indians to hide, and found them obeying orders. He 
picked out fifty of their number, and seeing that each 
one was supplied with a stone weighing about a pound, 
in each hand, he gave them instructions to lie down be- 
hind a rocky ledge which ran parallel with the trail and 
about twenty feet above it, and at a signal from him to 
stand up and deliver a volley at the brigands, and at once 
drop down again behind the ledge. He then went back 
to where he had left the guide and found that he had pro- 
vided himself with a stick of guiacon about four feet long 
and two inches through, and the gleam in his eye told Pat 
that there was danger ahead for some one. 

Pat now took a look at the two yards of visible trail, 
and standing there in full view were three of the robbers, 
evidently holding council. Pat’s rifle rang out and an- 
other had fallen by the wayside. The other two sprang 
up the out of view and thus saved themselves a whole 
skin and a cartridge or two for Mr. Adam’s future use. 

Pat now crept around the spur where he could command 
a view of the trail and at the same time see his “troops” 
and be able to give them the word of command, as he had 
told them he would. He had been here but a few minutes 
when the whole of the brigands came in sight on the trail 
and just below the ledge where the “troops” were lying. 
Pat gave the expected command and fifty stones 
crashed among the enemy on the trail leaving not more 
than twenty standing. The Indians, true to their instruc- 
tions, had immediately dropped behind the ledge and 
awaited further orders, when suddenly down the trail be- 
low the ledge sprang the guide wielding his “big stick.” 
He flung himself among the discomfited brigands like a 


THE QUEST 


7 5 


fury and in less time than it takes to tell it, there was not 
an enemy standing or capable of defending himself. The 
guide was not satisfied to have them at his mercy, but 
proceeded to put them beyond the possibility of ever en- 
gaging in any further expeditions of the kind in the 
future. 

Pat, who saw that there was no further need of 
slaughter, called to the guide to desist, and taking his 
‘'troops” down to the trail he proceeded to pick out those 
who were not killed outright. He found forty who were 
still alive and these he carefully disarmed and had the 
“troops” carry them up the trail and into the city where, 
with Mr. Adams’ help, they received what necessary at- 
tention was possible, and they were then placed in com- 
fortable rooms on the lower floor of the oval building. 
There were broken arms, legs and heads, besides other 
more or less severe wounds and bruises from the bullets 
of the rifle, the stones which were flung by the “troops,” 
and last but not least, by the “big stick” of the guide. 


CHAPTER XII. 


A START. 

That evening Mr. Adams had a long talk with Pat as 
to the course they should pursue in the future. They 
both realized that they had been of great service to the 
Indians and thought that they might prevail on them to 
allow them their liberty, as Mr. Adams wished to continue 
his journey, the object of which he had communicated to 
Pat. Mr. Adams, however, felt that they should not 
leave these people without imparting to them a knowl- 
edge of the Chistian religion. But Pat, who had lived 
among them for three years and observed their primitive 
ignorant innocence, had different ideas to those enter- 
tained by Mr. Adams. He said, “Ever since I have been 
here I have noticed that these people observe the golden 
rule better than they do in America or even in old Ireland. 
There has not been a murder since I have been here, and 
as far as I can learn none in the history of the tribe. No 
one steals, for it would be but stealing from himself. 
They have all they want and are only waiting for the 
time to come when they shall go beyond the mountains, 
there to enjoy forever the delights of the abode of their 
deity. For the life of me I do not see the difference be- 
tween their religion and that of my own, which by the 
way is Roman Catholic. 

“Sure we have our Pope who tells us that he is the 
representative of the deity and whatever he says we must 
do, whether our conscience tells us it is right or wrong, 
and here they have their priest or prince who gives them 
their instructions in matters of ethics and religion, and 

76 


THE QUEST 


77 


by the powers I believe that the heathen has the advan- 
tage, for from my own observations the priests are care- 
ful not to lay down any laws that are not contained in 
their code which, as the Presbyterian says, is their ‘rule 
of faith and guidance.’ There is not one of the sins as 
laid down in the whole list that Paul mentions in his let- 
ter to the Pope of which these people are guilty. Of 
course they get their crippled and insane and idiotic and 
decrepit old men and women out of the way, but they do 
it in a most humane manner, not letting them suffer in 
the act of killing. It would not surprise me but this 
method of dealing with the useless will be advocated by 
some big college professor or perhaps by some sympa- 
thetic and noble-souled woman who has forsaken the 
humdrum and old-fashioned habits and methods of her 
female ancestors and has started out to set things to 
rights in the world, which has almost gone to the dogs 
because the fair sex has been kept too busy taking care 
of the young and rising generation to give any attention 
to the political emancipation of her downtrodden but 
much adored sisters. 

“I tell you. Mr. Adams, it makes me feel badly when I 
think of such women as the mothers of such men as 
Washington and Lincoln and Roosevelt, to think that 
they had nothing better to do than to give birth to and 
train up such boys and make them into such men as they 
proved to be. After all though, I believe there are yet 
to be found some good women who are willing to follow 
the injunctions of the Scripture and become helpsmeet 
for their husbands, and to be fruitful and multiply and 
replenish. Sure my poor mother back home in Tralee 
had many things she taught 11s that she did not get out of 
a dime novel, nor out of a book on domestic science, 
which were the same taught to every child in the country 
there would be less crime and fewer experimental mar- 
riages. 


78 


THE QUEST 


“When my father was inclined to be somewhat ex- 
acting, for the best of men are somewhat inclined that 
way, she would say, ‘Now, Barny, dear, you did not 
marry an angel, and it would not have been well for you 
if you had, for she would have been trying to bring you 
up to her standard, which by the way would have been 
impossible, your wings not having yet started and you 
nearly forty years old.’ And then my father would 
say, ‘Sure, Mary, it’s myself did marry an angel, and that 
same angel has been the salvation of me soul and body, 
for when the hard times came upon us who cheered me 
up and gave me courage to face the bitter world but you, 
and when I was laid up with the fever who nursed me 
back to health but the wife of me heart. Ah, Mary, all 
I have and all I am is due to the fact that you are an 
angel, and the saints give it that I may never disgrace 
your name or memory.’ ” 

Pat’s eyes became dim with tears in thinking of the 
old home and he was silent for a time. Mr. Adams 
could not but be amused at Pat’s quaint way of express- 
ing himself, but he was at the same time impressed with 
the deep truth underlying it all. 

Mr. Adams during his college days had kept much to 
himself and had given more or less thought to the social 
questions which form the very foundation of our na- 
tional welfare, and had realized how carelessly and in- 
considerately these questions were handled by those in 
authority. The matter, too, of religion with its consola- 
tions and restraining influences had been given worse 
than no attention. He now wondered how it was pos- 
sible for a man of Professor A ’s erudition to stand 

before a class of young men and women, most of whom 
had been brought up in Christian families, and make the 
statement, without a blush, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we 
will not have chapel exercises this morning as I am an 


THE QUEST 


79 


infidel.” Any man who can live in this world and be- 
hold the many evidences of a creative genius and con- 
scientiously say that he is an infidel or an atheist should 
be placed under constant restraint for fear that he might 
do some harm to those around him “just by chance.” 

The next morning Pat and Mr. Adams went to the 
priest and explained to him that they had an important 
journey to take, and they asked him if he would allow 
them to go and also permit some of the Indians to carry 
them in canoes up the Macaya river as far as it was nav- 
igable for that kind of a craft. At first he refused, but 
Pat’s eloquence prevailed and he gave his consent for 
them to go with an escort of ten Indians, on Pat’s assur- 
ance that he would return as soon as the object of their 
journey was accomplished. They busied themselves for 
the next ten days getting ready for the trip, in the mean- 
time giving the necessary attention to the wounded brig- 
ands. Seven had died from their injuries and were 
burned, beyond the Macaya river, as had been those who 
were killed during the light. The remaining thirty-three 
were, as soon as able to travel, to be escorted to the sum- 
mit of the mountain overlooking the valley of the Magda- 
lena river, with the promise that they would never come 
that way again. 

The canoes which these people use are logs of mahog- 
any or a tree much resembling the teak. These are 
sharpened at both ends and hollowed out to a thin shell 
and are capable of carrying very heavy loads and as they 
draw very little water they are admirably adapted for 
river travel. 

The Macaya river before it joins the Ajaju runs 
through a stretch of country for over two hundred miles, 
most of which is covered with the most dense jungle of 
which it is possible to conceive. Once in a while the 
travellers would come into an open space where for 


8o 


THE QUEST 


several miles there would be a treeless plain, and here 
they found plenty of game. Pat had possessed himself 
of a splendid Snyder rifle, belonging to one of the dead 
brigands, with fifty rounds of ammunition, and he was 
careful not to waste any of it. The river abounded in 
fish and the guide was an expert in securing them with 
his spear. 

Thus they travelled on and on for twenty-eight days 
when they reached the farthest point that they could go 
with the canoes. 

During the whole trip Mr. Adams, Pat and the guide 
occupied one of the canoes which was propelled by three 
of the Indians, the other seven being in the foremost 
canoe. They had arranged an awning over the center 
of Mr. Adams’ canoe so as to shield the travellers from 
the hot sun, for they were not more than fifty miles 
from the equator on starting. After they had gotten well 
started Pat gave Mr. Adams an account of his residence 
in this strange country so far away from his native land. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


pat's story. 

He had been born in Tralee and was intended for the 
priesthood and had therefore received a liberal education, 
but not being able to believe that the human head of the 
Roman Catholic church was infallible he could not con- 
scientiously take the vows necessary for the holy calling. 
He then came over to America and began studying the 
social problems and conditions in that country. To put 
it in his own words, he said : 

“I found the social life in America like a good orange 
tree that had been fertilized by the pollen from some 
wild and bitter tree and the fruit was not good to look 
upon nor yet was it good to eat. Politics ruled every- 
thing and the political bosses were ruled by the worst 
element or were that worst element themselves. The 
women think more of clubs and cards than they do of 
caring for the few children they permit themselves to 
possess. From my own observations and from what I 
have been told by the leading physicians in all the large 
cities I have visited, I believe there are more murders in 
America in one week than there have been in Ireland 
during the last fifty years. I believe that pre-natal 
influences are at the bottom of the production of such 
monsters as Hayward and Holmes, and a host of others I 
could mention. I wished to get away where I might find 
conditions that were not so completely covered up by 
artificiality. I went to Mexico, where I found the people 
given over to a reprobate mind, being without God and 
without hope in the world, as the Scripture has it. I 

81 


82 


THE QUEST 


believe that the early teaching of the ‘Church’ has been 
partly to blame for this condition as it was so permeated 
with commercialism and conquest that the true ethics 
of the religion were never grasped or understood. I 
travelled on through Central America until I came to 
Panama. Here I found that the French had overrun 
the whole place and instead of having been a benefit to 
the half-breeds they had conveyed to the poor devils all 
of the horrors of civilization without any of its advan- 
tages. 

“The population is an ollapodrida of Indian, African, 
Spanish, French, English and American, and possessing 
all of the acerbity, malevolence and venom of their com- 
bined ancestors and having nothing in their mental or 
moral make-up that might be considered altruism, benev- 
olence or honesty. The Chinaman is here and under the 
benign ( ?) influence of such a civilization has forgotten 
even the moral teachings of the ethical code of Con- 
fucius, and to-day the poor exotic from the land of the 
rising sun is scarcely above the three-toed tapir which 
wanders through the swamps of the jungle. 

“They have churches and a form of worship in Pan- 
ama and Colon; but that they appreciate its significance 
I seriously doubt. Even the priests with whom I talked 
seem only to understand the prefunctory duties which 
they are called upon to perform and have not grasped 
the essence of the religion they profess to believe and 
teach. From Colon I started out with some Englishmen 
who were going up the Orinoco river to search out 
rubber trees. There was one American on the steamer 
that carried us to San Fernando, but he became so un- 
popular in consequense of his braggadocia and his vocif- 
erous insistance on his unbelief and his quotations from 
“The Philistine” that the rest of the company fairly 


THE QUEST 83 

froze him out, and when we got to Angostura he decided 
he would go no further. 

“I remained in San Fernando for six months, making 
myself acquainted with the conditions that prevailed and 
also making a visit occasionally about forty miles up the 
river among a tribe of Indians that lived there in sim- 
plicity and peacefulness. I studied their language and 
that is why I was able to converse with your guide. One 
of these Indians became attached to me because of some 
trifling favor I did for him and afterwards would not 
leave me. So after, as I said, about six months myself 
and my man Friday, for so I called him, started down the 
river Apure in a canoe which we had made, until we 
came to the main river, and up this we travelled until we 
arrived at Santa Barbara, which is about two hundred 
miles below or to the north of where the cassiquiare 
river joins the waters of the Orinoco with those of the 
Amazon. 

“Here we remained two months, but really spent most 
of our time in a beautiful range of mountains which lie 
just north of the village. I had brought a plentiful 
supply of quinine, but almost every Indian village that 
we saw was a sad drain upon that supply. I could not 
see the poor wretches suffering with fever and not give 
them some when I knew how much good it would do 
them. Here among the hills north of Santa Barbara 
I found the cinchona tree growing to a perfection al- 
most as great as among the ranges of the Andes. I 
collected a large supply of the bark and took it into 
the village, where I instructed the natives how to pre- 
pare it for use. After two months we again started 
up the river, and, getting into the Cassiquiare, we had 
like to remain there, for though I had seen jungle in 
plenty before, I had never realized what nature could 
do when all the conditions are suitable/’ 


CHAPTER XIV. 


ON THE CASSIQUIARE. 

“The ground is almost all low and swampy, with here 
and there a hillock. Game was here in the greatest 
plenty ; deer of three different kinds, wild hogs, peccary, 
and water fowl. I need only mention the animals that 
were good to eat; but we had a little adventure here 
that compels me to speak of an animal which came very 
near putting a sudden stop to our journey. We had 
started out early in the morning and paddled slowly up 
the river until about ten o’clock, when we stopped to 
avoid the midday heat. After securing the boat to the 
bank, we cut our way through the tangle of vines and 
ferns to a bit of higher ground, and after clearing away 
a space sufficiently large, we proceeded to hang our ham- 
mocks, after which I covered up my head with mos- 
quito netting and turned in, intending to get some sleep. 

“Friday, after getting his hammock adjusted, started 
out with his spear to get some fish. He had scarcely 
gotten out of sight when I was borne to the earth, ham- 
mock and all, by some soft, furry beast alighting full on 
my head and chest. I grappled with it, and screamed 
for help. The Indian, who was fortunately but a few 
yards away, sprang to my assistance, when he was 
pounced upon by the mate of the one with which I was 
struggling. Friday, borne to the ground by the sudden 
weight of the animal, uttered no sound, but caught the 
beast by the throat with his left hand, his right arm 
being in the grasp of the animal’s jaws. His antagonist 
was soon forced to open its mouth, when the Indian 

84 


THE QUEST 


85 


seized his machete with his liberated hand, and with 
one terrific blow he almost severed the head and left 
shoulder of the beast from its trunk, and at once came 
to my assistance. 

“In the meantime the animal that had attacked me had 
sunk its teeth in my scalp and had my chest fearfully la- 
cerated with its hind claws, while I had it clasped tightly 
around the body trying to break its back, and I had one of 
its forepaws in my mouth, and was biting for all I was 
worth. Friday, with one blow of the machete, secured 
my release and accomplished the death of the panther, 
for such it proved to be. He then told me to remain 
still while he got some medicine to stop the bleeding, 
which was very profuse. He then disappeared into the 
jungle, but returned in a few minutes with the leaves of 
a plant resembling the aloe. 

“He scarified a leaf and allowed the sap to run freely 
over my wounds, which soon stopped the smarting as 
well as the bleeding, after which he attended to his own 
lacerations in the same way. He then cut a small lace 
bark tree and proceeded to prepare a cloth with which 
to dress our wounds. After this was accomplished he 
again set out with his spear to secure some fish, and 
when I told him to rest a while, he replied that his arm 
would be stiff and sore in a little time, so that he would 
not be able to catch fish. It was not long before he 
returned with several fine fish and an animal resembling 
a rat, but very much larger. These he cooked, after 
having slung my hammock and gotten me comfortably 
fixed therein. 

“We remained here two weeks before I was able to 
travel, and I never had a better nurse than that poor, 
uncivilized savage. When we again launched our canoe 
out on the waters of the Cassiquiare, we found that the 
current which had been flowing towards the Orinoco was 


86 


THE QUEST 


now flowing towards the Rio Negro. This at first 
frightened Friday, but I told him that this was known 
to be a usual thing, and that there was nothing unnatural 
about it, and he was then satisfied. These poor children 
of nature look upon everything unusual with supersti- 
tious awe, and having little knowledge of natural laws, 
are in the habit of attributing everything of that nature 
to some supernatural cause. And by the powers, there 
are those who are educated and live in civilized countries 
who are not much better off in this respect than the 
Indians. If they spill some salt at the table they are 
surely going to have bad luck, and if a magpie flies 
across the road ahead of them, from left to right, bad 
luck is sure to follow. And how many there are who 
will not begin any piece of work on Friday, because 
they believe it to be an unlucky day ! 

“Well, when we found the river going in the direc- 
tion that we wished to travel, all we had to do was 
to allow’ the boat to ‘go with the tide’ and steer clear 
of any obstacles which might happen in the way. We 
rested every day for two hours, and, of course, every 
night, and as there was no one waiting for us at the 
other end, we did not start out very early in the morn- 
ing, and we quit pretty early in the evening. Oh, the 
beauties of nature and the wonderful lessons to be 
learned from the brooks and the trees and the flowers. 
Shakespeare has put it: 

“ ‘And this our life exempt from public haunt, 

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.’ 

“Even the great Author of the universe, when He had 
finished the work, pronounced it ‘good.’ To one who 
wishes to get away from the abode of civilization where 
‘only man is vile,’ there is no place, so far as I know, 
where so little of that vileness can be detected as in the 


THE QUEST 


87 


country through which I have been traveling and in 
which I have been living for the past four years. The 
ravages of civilization are here unknown. Here the 
primitive inhabitant worships in ‘God’s first temples,’ 
and if I may judge by the simplicity and sincerity of 
that worship, I cannot but come to the conclusion that 
the Supreme Being has greater delight therein than in 
any perfunctory form, even though the priest may be 
arrayed in cope and stole, in scarlet and fine linen, and 
the congregation be hemmed in by walls of marble and 
be surrounded by saints of jaspar or onyx. 

“It is a luxury to live in these jungles that is unknown 
to the civilized races of Europe, Asia and America. The 
atmosphere is surcharged with song and sunshine, or 
with the music of the dripping rain as it falls from leaf 
to leaf, and this brings out, as nothing else will, the 
chirp of the small bird and the chatter of the innocent 
and interesting marmoset. And then the sunshine after 
the rain, when everything seems to grow under your eye, 
and the yellow tulip-shaped bloom of the gigantic cotton- 
wood, the color of which is intensified by the scarlet 
blossom of some of the many vines which cling to this 
monster of the forest, all go to make one feel that this 
decoration is for some purpose. Surely here the great 
Architect has beautified the ‘works of His hand’? 

“Flocks of parrots arrayed in scarlet and yellow and 
green, toucans, their somber black brightened by touches 
of yellow and red, even the beak of this wonderful bird 
being decorated with the most beautiful colorings of 
orange, green, red and black. Here also countless troops 
of monkeys, of almost every species known to man, keep 
the forest ringing with their laughter, and the traveler 
interested and amused with their agility and their 
trickery. Ah. Mr. Adams, this civilization of ours is 
certainly a delusion and a snare, for everything sacred is 


88 


THE QUEST 


being changed to suit the times which are constantly 
changing. It tempted me to wish that the river would 
flow on forever. 

“The greater the degree of luxury of a people or 
nation, the further they get away from the true object 
of life and living. I’m thinking that it will be a long 
time before the millenium arrives, unless the yellow race 
is used to punish the white, as the Persians punished the 
Jews of old for their disobedience.” 






























































































. . 















A MAHOGANY TREE 



A JUNGLE SCENE 



CHAPTER XV. 


pat’s first introduction to a hostile tribe. 

“We floated down until we came to where the Cassi- 
quiare empties into the Guaima, and this we followed 
until we came to the Rio Negro, or Vaupes, as it is 
called from this point. Our course now lay due west, 
and through the most beautiful and fruitful country, I 
dare to say, that it has ever been the fortune of any 
white man to traverse. Here on the south side of 
the river we found a tribe of Indians calling themselves 
'the Macu’; another, the ‘Taratana’; and still farther up 
the river and on the same side the ‘Juri.’ On the north 
side we found two tribes, the ‘Canieri’ and the 
‘Uariquena.’ 

“All of these tribes are on occasion cannibals, of which 
we had many proofs ; in fact, I thought at one time that 
we were likely to figure at one of their feasts as the 
chief viands. We had been travelling on the Vaupes 
for twenty-five days, when one morning about ten o’clock 
we saw a number of Indians standing on a strip of 
beach which seemed to be the best landing-place near, 
and we decided to land, hoping that these wild men of the 
forest were like all those with whom we had heretofore 
come in contact. 

“Our canoe had scarcely touched the shore, when we 
were surrounded by these naked savages. They were 
tall, well-built men, standing about five feet ten inches 
without socks, and probably weighing in the neighbor- 
hood of one hundred and seventy pounds stripped. They 
were broad-shouldered and deep-chested, with well- 

89 


90 


THE QUEST 


moulded and muscular limbs. Their faces were cruel to 
the last degree; their noses pointed and straight; their 
mouths large, the upper lip being full and having a flabby 
appearance ; their chins were narrow, sharp and re- 
ceding; their forehead seemed to extend to the very top 
of their heads, and to this point were perfectly bald, 
the remainder of the head being covered with coarse 
black hair, which they had braided in one braid, and this 
hung down their backs, reaching nearly on a level with 
their hips. They carried bows and arrows and also 
poisoned arrows and tubes. 

“We were invited to disembark by one of these gentry, 
who seemed to be the only one capable of articulate 
speech, for the others stood like dummies waiting for us 
to get on shore. I told Friday to tell them that we did 
not need an escort, and had not expected a reception 
committee; in fact, to say that we were not prepared 
for any social function, particularly if it necessitated a 
dress suit. After Friday had completed his speech, 
they looked at us in greater amazement than ever, and 
by their gesticulations directed us to follow them. 

“Now, we had no intention of making social calls be- 
fore noon, and this we tried to make clear to our in- 
sistent friends, but they did not understand, or, under- 
standing, they had plans for us of their own which they 
considered of paramount importance to any we might 
have, and they made it very plain to us that if we did 
not wish to follow, it would be their pleasure as well as 
duty to drive us. We did not at once enter heartily 
into their plans, having some of our own; in fact, we 
objected to the extent that I took my ‘Savage,’ and, point- 
ing it at the one who seemed to be the leader, I made 
it very plain to him that there would be something serious 
happen if they continued in insisting on our breaking up 
our plans or changing them so that they might accord 
with what they considered their duty or pleasure. 


THE QUEST 


9 * 


"Suddenly Friday called to me, and, pointing up to 
the branches of a large tree, told me to look. On look- 
ing up, I saw an enormous sloth. I at once took de- 
liberate aim and fired, and the animal fell almost at our 
feet. The Indians dropped their bows and arrows and 
fell upon their knees, and, as far as we could learn, 
begged us not to harm them and they would not harm 
us. I told them in my own old Gaelic tongue that all 
we wanted was to be left alone and to be allowed to 
continue our journey, and I also expressed the hope that 
I would never have the opportunity of seeing their faces 
again. They had the good manners not to interrupt 
me while I was making my speech, but when I had 
finished they all broke out talking, and such a language 
you never heard. Pointing to the sloth and then to 
the jungle, I endeavored to make them understand that 
I wanted them to go, but they made it very plain to us 
that they were not going without us. 

“After talking with Friday as to the best thing to do 
under the circumstances, we decided to submit to the 
inevitable rather than have a scene; so I motioned for 
the leader to go on, and we would follow. This they 
seemed to understand, and then some of them tied the 
legs of the sloth together, and by using a long pole they 
slung it on their shoulders and we all started in a south- 
erly direction. The trail was wide and smooth, and 
gave evidence of being used a great deal, and for this 
we later had reason to be thankful. 

“Before leaving the canoe I had taken all the ammu- 
nition I could well carry in my pockets, and had Friday 
do the same, and all offers from the Indians to carry my 
gun were politely refused in my own native Gaelic 
tongue, it being more expressive on certain occasions 
than any other with which I am at all acquainted. We 
traveled along at a pretty good pace until the sun had 


92 


THE QUEST 


reached the zenith, when I made it plain to the commit- 
tee that a little rest would be acceptable. They did 
not seem to think it at all necessary, but as Friday and 
I had laid down they had to either wait or go on alone, 
the latter of which would have suited us. 

“After we had rested about an hour the leader in- 
formed us that he thought we had better be going, if 
we wished to reach our destination before dark. I 
concluded that perhaps it would be more comfortable 
to make our entrance into the presence of the rest of the 
tribe during the hours of sunlight, so that in case of 
necessity we would have some knowledge of the lay of 
the land. After I had come to this conclusion there 
was no further delay caused by the unwilling guests. 
About an hour before sunset we arrived in sight of the 
village, or, more properly, city, for the houses were all 
of a rather substantial character, being built of bamboo 
posts set deeply in the earth and thatched with palm 
leaves. 

“The north and east sides were interwoven with vines 
and then plastered over with mud, which kept out the 
wind, and the broad eaves sheltered the walls from the 
rain. 

The other two sides were open, and had no pro- 
tection whatever from the wind. The reason for this 
style of architecture is that the storms all come from 
the north or east, and during the fine and dry season 
the prevailing winds are from the south or west, prin- 
cipally the latter. The city is a perfect circle, the 
king’s house, which is round, being in the centre, and 
streets lead out from this to the circumference like the 
spokes of a wheel running from the hub to the rim. 

“Without any preliminaries we were conducted to the 
king’s abode in the heart of this strange jungle city, and 
in a somewhat informal way introduced to his majesty. 


THE QUEST 


93 


He was seated on a llama skin rug in the center of the 
house, surrounded by his wives, ten in number. He 
was certainly a splendid specimen of manhood, so far 
as physical appearance was concerned. He was a 
powerful man, and must have weighed two hundred 
pounds. His hair was dressed as was that of those who 
had acted as our reception committee, but his face ex- 
pressed more intelligence as well as more ferociousness. 
The only adornment he had was an immense bracelet 
set with magnificent emeralds, twelve in number. 

“The women wore their hair braided in two braids 
and hanging down their backs, and the front of their 
head was not so bald as was that of the men. Their 
features were regular and somewhat of a Caucasian type, 
but one could not fail to see the cruel nature stamped 
on every face, whether male or female. When we had 
been presented to the king, he stood up and made quite 
a lengthy speech, not one word of which could either 
of us understand. 

“When he ceased, I thought it my time, as turn about 
is fair play, so I started in with my speech, first in 
English, and talked for about ten minutes, telling, them 
where I had come from, and where I hoped to get; after 
a while I concluded that I had better repeat, and I did 
so in Gaelic, then in Spanish, and I finally wound up 
with some Greek and Latin phrases that I had not for- 
gotten since my college days. I then told Friday to 
make a. speech in his native tongue, which he did in 
splendid style. I saw that his gesticulations and. worn 
derful flow of language were having their effect upon 
the old man, and I said to Friday, ‘Keep it up if it kills 
you, and when you get out of breath I will take another 
turn at it.’ 

“We kept them listening for a while, and we soon 
had quite a large audience, for the news that a new 


94 


THE QUEST 


kind of man had been found soon penetrated to every 
part of the city, and they all did the same as the people 
of Cork or Dublin would do if you should take one of 
these heathens there. Finally the king became tired 
of this talk, of which he did not understand one word, 
and after he had spoken to our guards we were led off 
to the outskirts of the city and lodged in a new house 
that had not as yet had an occupant, it not being com- 
pletely finished. 

'‘Before the guards went to sleep I made them under- 
stand that we were hungry, and must have something 
to eat. One of their number went off, and after a 
little while returned with a large gourd-shell full of a 
kind of sweetened porridge, which was not unpalatable. 
This we ate with our own spoons that we always carried 
with us, they not having the decency to furnish us with 
those very necessary articles. They had not taken my 
gun from me, nor had they taken anything from my 
man Friday, so we felt ourselves safe as yet. We were 
given hammocks to sleep in, and I took the precaution 
to tie my gun fast to my wrist in case they should at- 
tempt to steal it during the time that I slept. 

“We were awakened next morning, about an hour 
after sunrise, and therefore about seven o’clock, by one 
of our guards, and our breakfast set before us, which 
consisted of fish and strips of smoked turtle, with a 
bowl of the same kind of porridge as we had had for 
supper. After having eaten this, we were led before 
the king, and he then made a careful examination of 
both of us. My beard seemed to arouse his curiosity 
more than anything else. He seemed to think it was 
false, and to test this he caught hold of a bunch on my 
jaw and gave a hard tug; this was more than I could 
stand, and I bowled his majesty over with one on the 
under side of his jaw. 


THE QUEST 


95 


“He then gave some orders, and I soon discovered that 
they were going to strip me. This was more than I 
bargained for, and all the women looking on ; of course, 
they wore no clothes themselves, but that was no reason 
why I should expose myself, or allow them to expose 
me; so I said, ‘Now, hands off!’ and I said it so that 
they knew that I meant it, for the two wretches who 
had been detailed to do the stripping act were soon 
sprawling about ten feet away, one from a blow on the 
nose which ‘made the claret flow/ and the other I’ll 
warrant you felt as if he had a bad attack of appendi- 
citis, if a pain in the pit of the stomach is any indication 
of that malady. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


THE ESCAPE. 

“I then told Friday that we would have to make a 
break to get back to the canoe, for while I was standing 
there I saw the remains of what the king had had for 
his breakfast, and as sure as I’m here, if it was not 
the bones of a human he had been picking. Friday told 
me he was ready, and when I would give the signal he 
would start in a northeasterly direction, and when they 
were all excited about his running away I should take the 
direct path to the river and the canoe, and said, ‘He kill 
before take.’ By this time the two who had made the 
attempt to strip me had recovered, and at the command 
of the king came towards me, and, keeping at a re- 
spectable distance, made signs for me to hand them my 
gun. 

“I then told Friday to run, which he did, but not 
before knocking one of the Indians over by a blow from 
his spear. Immediately all was confusion, in the midst 
of which I started for the river at full speed, and as 
I was something of a sprinter when I was in college, I 
was well towards the outside of the city before I had 
many followers. I ran as I had never run before, for 
I could see constantly before my eyes the remains that 
the king had left from his breakfast, and I felt sure 
that I was intended for just such a purpose. Now, 
these Indians were pretty good runners, but I am free 
to say that if my wind had held out they would never 
have gotten near enough to me to get into the trouble 
they did, and it hurts me to this day to think that I 

96 


THE QUEST 


97 

had to stop several of them with bullets from my 'Savage’ 
before they decided to refrain from following. 

"I reached the boat about noon, and Friday was only a 
short time behind me ; but the poor fellow was limping. 
He said that one of the Indians had shot an arrow at 
him while he was still in the city, and it had struck 
him in the foot, but that he had pulled the arrow out 
as he ran, and succeeded in getting away from all but 
one, who had gained on him, and at last he had to stop 
him with his spear. We quickly got into the canoe, 
and, crossing over to the other side of the river, we 
lost no time in paddling up the stream in order to get 
as far away as possible from the landing before they 
could come within shooting distance. 

"I knew that if we got about a mile up the river they 
would not be likely to follow us, as they had but one 
road to the river, and the beach on which we had landed 
when we were captured, and as the beach did not extend 
up the river more than a quarter of a mile, and above 
that the bank was high and abrupt and covered to the 
very edge with so dense a jungle that it would take 
hours for a man to get through a mile of it. We cau- 
tiously approached the next stretch of beach on the 
south side, for fear there might be other Indians there, 
but we were agreeably disappointed to find no trace of 
human beast. 

‘‘As night approached, we paddled the canoe up a deep 
but narrow igarape on the north side of the river, and 
finding a convenient spot, we camped, but were careful 
not to build any fire, for fear there might be Indians 
in the neighborhood ; and, truth to say, I had had enough 
of them for a day or two; but I have noticed that the 
Indians here, unlike those of North America, seldom, if 
ever, go out during the night, probably because they do 
not care to be devoured by the mosquitoes, and besides, 


98 


THE QUEST 


they believe that the bites of insects is what makes them 
sick. The next morning we paddled out on the river 
and carefully scrutinized both banks, but saw no trace 
of enemies, for such I now considered all Indians until 
they proved themselves of a different character. 

‘‘This day we took very little rest at noon for two 
reasons: First, because we wanted to get away as far 
as possible from the scene of our late captivity; and, 
second, because the day was cloudy, and we did not 
suffer so much from the heat. When night came, on 
the north side of the river there was a treeless plain 
from the bank of the river extending as far as the 
eye could reach, and having a frontage on the river of 
about two miles, while on the south side was the same 
terrible yet grand and wonderful jungle. 

“The plain on the north side was covered with coarse 
grass almost as high as a man’s head, and through the 
center of it ran a beautiful stream of water as clear 
as crystal and teeming with fish of numerous kinds, and, 
strange to say, not an alligator or turtle in sight. At 
first I did not understand this, but I afterwards learned 
that these beasts like the muddy water, as they are better 
able to catch fish where the water is not clear. We 
went up this stream about half a mile, and just after 
sunset I succeeded in bagging a splendid specimen of red 
deer. 

“Friday caught some nice fish, and we then started 
for the other side of the big river, where we could have 
facilities for hanging our hammocks and preparing our 
food. We soon found a narrow igarape, up which we 
paddled for a distance of a hundred yards, and here 
we located our camp in a beautiful spot surrounded by 
dense jungle. We saw no trace of any human being, 
and as that was the only animal of which we had any 


THE QUEST 


99 


fear, we remained here for ten days, smoking deer meat 
and drying fish for future use, for we did not know 
when the supply would become insufficient. 

“At the expiration of the ten days we again embarked 
and worked our way up the river, taking our time and 
caring not if we made one mile or five during the day. 
Occasionally we would have a storm, which would al- 
most invariably come from the east, and the rain would 
descend in torrents and the surface of the river would 
be lashed into foam by the force of the wind, and the 
trees of the jungle would moan as if in pain, and all 
animal life would be still as if it were listening to the 
complaint of the forest. 

“Nature in her angry moods terrified poor Friday 
so that he would crouch and tremble like a wounded 
bird when it is about to be seized by the hand of the 
hunter. To me these storms gave some conception 
of the power and majesty of the wonderful personality 
who governs the universe, and without whose knowledge 
not even a sparrow falls to the ground. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


THE BLUE-EYED INDIANS. 

“We had been traveling twenty days since our last 
camping, when, pushing out of our hiding-place where 
we had spent the night, we discovered a canoe with five 
Indians in it. I at first thought they were white men, 
for they had light hair, some almost red, some golden, 
and some shading into a light brown. They were but 
a few yards away when we first saw them, and so it 
was useless to try to avoid a meeting. They approached 
until they were alongside our canoe, when I discovered 
that while they were certainly Indians, they had not 
only light hair, as has already been observed, but they 
had blue eyes; and, furthermore, they were not naked, 
as all the others had been. 

“They were short in stature, but of great muscular 
development. The skin was copper-colored, the nose 
was of the aquiline type, the mouth well formed and 
anything but cruel. They did not have their hair 
braided, as had all the other Indians with whom I had 
previously come in contact; but it showed evidence of 
having had some attention, for it was not matted, but 
hung loosely down their backs, being prevented from 
falling over their faces by a thin, narrow band of gold 
which passed over the front of the head down to and 
behind the ears. 

“1 addressed them first in English, and their good- 
natured-looking faces made me feel somewhat in the 
way myself. I said, ‘Well, boys and girls, or boys or 
girls, how are you this beautiful morning?’ They 
100 



























































































































































A TATTOOED INDIAN 




THE QUEST 


IOI 


looked at each other and laughed outright, but said 
nothing. I then told Friday to try his native tongue 
on them, which he did with as little success as I with 
my English. The only thing left, to my notion, was 
pantomime, so I attempted to tell them that we were 
going up the river as far as we could in the canoe. 

“Then one of their number began to talk and gesti- 
culate, and, pointing to the east, where the sun had 
risen, and to the west, where that luminary would set, 
he held up both hands with the fingers spread apart and 
dropped them to his side, and again raised them up as 
before. This he did five times, and I took it to mean 
that we had fifty days’ journey ahead of us; but what 
they considered a day’s journey might, and probably 
would, mean four or five to us. 

“The strangest part of the matter was that I seemed 
to be able to follow to some extent his speech, so as to 
get some meaning out of it, when suddenly I discovered 
that many of the words that he used were very much 
like words in my own native Gaelic. Of course, the 
pronunciation was not according to the way I had been 
taught, but then, I argued, may not the Indian have 
the right, and I the wrong, pronunciation ? I then ad- 
dressed them in Gaelic, and while they were not able 
to understand all I said, they understood sufficient to 
let them know what I meant. Here was a surprise 
to me, for certainly the language of these men indi- 
cated that they and I had a common language, if not 
a common ancestry, in the not greatly remote past. 
The fact that their complexion differed from that of 
all other tribes of which I had any knowledge, led me 
to believe that they were the offspring of some band of 
Scotch or Irish who had found their way into these 
wilds before the discovery of America by Columbus. 


102 


THE QUEST 


“They told us that they had been down the river 
after alligators’ eggs, and were returning home, which 
was not far up the stream. They seemed so pleasant 
and mild-mannered, and besides, I could converse with 
them so as to be understood, that I concluded the best 
thing for us to do was to accompany them to their home, 
which we accordingly did. This was where we were 
self-invited guests. We arrived at their landing about 
noon, and had about three miles of a walk through the 
jungle, when there burst upon our view a sight I shall 
never forget. 

“Here was a treeless plain sloping gently to the north 
and west, dotted all over with the most wonderful bam- 
boo cottages, and on the east side of each cottage was 
a grove of from one to two hundred fruit trees. This 
was on the north side of the river. There did not 
seem to be anyone moving about, and I asked our host 
if they were the only people who lived here. They 
told me that the others were taking their noonday rest. 
Far away to the north could be seen a range of moun- 
tains, which was a splendid setting for the foreground 
of cultivated fields and multitudinous orchards, be- 
neath which snuggled the neat and dainty bamboo cot- 
tages resembling toy houses on a large scale. I felt 
that here certainly was that Utopia for which all have 
longed and many sought. 

“They gave me to understand that they would first 
take me to their chief, who would provide for our com- 
fort while we wished to remain their guests. After 
passing a number of cottages, we at last arrived in front 
of a more pretentious edifice than any of those we had 
passed, and we were then told to be seated on the 
ground until the chief should come out from his sleep, 
which would be very soon. 

“While waiting, I took the occasion to count the dwell- 


THR QUEST 


103 


ings that were in sight, and I made it four hundred 
and thirty. I had scarcely finished counting when 
the chief came out and stood on the threshold. The 
Indian who had remained as a guard, as I supposed, 
now pushing his band of gold back over the top of his 
head, seemingly as a mark of respect, addressed the 
chief in the most pleasant tone, and informed him where 
they had found us, and also told him that the ‘white 
man’ could talk some of their language. The chief 
then addressed himself to me, and I gathered from 
what he said that we were welcome, but that we must 
not attempt to enter any house unless by his permis- 
sion. I took off my hat while he was speaking, for 
his manner commanded respect. 

“When he had finished speaking he came up to me 
and placed his right hand over my heart and took my 
right hand and placed it over his heart, and this I after- 
wards learned was meant to indicate that he would 
protect me, but I was also in duty bound to protect him 
if occasion required. He told us that he would give 
us a room in his house, where we could sleep and eat, 
and that we might stay as long as we wished. These 
people were living a most simple, harmless, pastoral life. 
I lived among them for three months, and never did I 
see one angry at another, and their simplicity and inno- 
cence were something I had never even dreamed of in 
my greatest flights of fancy. The men wore skirts 
plaited in many folds, made from the inner bark of 
the lace bark tree, and it did not require much of an 
imagination to see in it the kilt skirt of the Highlander. 

“The women wore long skirts of the same material, 
but dyed in different colors, black and yellow predomin- 
ating. The upper part of their bodies they covered 
with a scarf worn in almost the same way as the Scotch- 
man wears his plaid. They dress their hair much 


104 


THE QUEST 


the same as the men, but the gold band is set with 
emeralds. They .wore bracelets of beaten gold, on 
which were carved splendid representations of flowers 
and trees. They had never seen a white man before, 
although they had a tradition that many years ago there 
had come from over the western mountains men with 
a white skin with their faces covered with hair, who had 
taken all their gold and had brutalized their women. 

“Surely here was evidence of the cruel and blood- 
thirsty Spaniard, leaving wherever he went a memory 
of infamy and loathing. On the mountains to the north 
they herded many hundreds of llamas. They cultivate 
yams, potatoes, toro, two kinds of cassiva, oranges, 
guava, limes, cachew, and a fruit very much resembling 
the sugar apple. Nuts of many kinds are found in 
their orchards. They have three kinds of fowls that 
they have domesticated, one of which very much re- 
sembles the turkey, except that it has a head more like 
a peacock surmounted by a top-knot of bright red 
feathers, but the flesh is very good to eat, especially 
when properly cooked. 

“When I went among them they would cut the raw 
flesh off and roast it over the coals. I constructed an 
oven of mud and stone, and taught them how to dress 
the bird and cook it, and they were so delighted with 
the flavor that I had like to never have gotten away 
from them, being constituted their official chef. The 
women do nothing but look after the children and make 
the clothes for themselves and the children and the men 
of their household. They have a marriage ceremony, 
and each man has only one wife. If a man lives to be 
twenty years old and is not then married, he has to go 
out to the mountains as a herder for the llamas, and 
there remain until he dies. 

“I made several excursions out into the mountains, 


THE QUEST 


105 

and found the cinchona tree reaching a very much greater 
size than I had seen it elsewhere. I showed the Indians 
the tree, and taught them its use, for which they seemed 
very grateful, as they were terribly afflicted with malaria; 
in fact, there was very little else that ever ailed them. 
Some of the Indians were evidently very old, for in many 
of the homes there would be found four or even five 
generations, the oldest son always remaining in the old 
home, while the others were compelled to go out and 
build for themselves. 

“There was always plenty of ground, and, as it could 
be had without cost, there was no dispute ; but each man, 
when he got married, went out and chose for himself, 
and as only one marriage was allowed in one day, there 
was no rush for the most desirable location, such as 
has been witnessed many times in America, when the 
former possessor of the land has been driven by the 
necessities of civilization into constantly narrowing limits. 

“The chief collects no tax because he is chief, but 
rather pays for his position by frequently losing part 
of his midday sleep when a couple desires to be made 
one. Their conduct is governed by nothing less than the 
un formulated golden rule, and this I have found to be 
the case among almost all uncivilized people with whom 
I have come in contact ; and it is lived up to with greater 
care than among those calling themselves civilized or 
even Christianized. 

“They rested and worshipped one day in every twenty- 
eight, and that was on the day of the full moon. On 
the morning of this day, when the sun arose it found 
every man, woman and child who was not too sick to 
go out, assembled in the large central park, where kneel- 
ing on the ground, they placed their foreheads to the 
earth and remained in this position while the orb of day 
was coming above the horizon. As soon as the full 


io6 


THE QUEST 


disk of the sun was in full view, they all arose, and, 
turning their faces to the west, they began to chant in a 
not unpleasant tone something to this effect, as near as 
I could get it: ‘We are thy children; give us light that 
we may see and know thy glories; save us from the 
enemies who live where darkness ever lasts; pity thou 
our aged ones and give them easy death, and then sun- 
shine all the time ; protect us from the great wind 
which cometh out of thy mouth, and may it not carry 
away all our crops. We are thy children; love us as 
we love each the other, and so deal with us as we deal 
one with the other.’ 

“After chanting this over two or three times, they 
would all go to their homes and remain inside without 
eating until nearly sundown, when the men would all 
come out bearing in their arms a load of the fruit of 
their labors, in the shape of vegetables, nuts, fruit and 
fowls, and these they would put in one immense pile 
and burn while the sun was sinking behind the western 
hills, and then, with downcast eyes and not uttering 
a word, they would return to their houses and remain 
in until the next morning, when their work would be 
resumed. 

“I could not for the life of me tell them that they 
were traveling the wrong road if they ever expected to 
get to a happy hereafter. In fact, I can’t get myself 
to believe that a just Judge and a sympathetic Father 
could condemn these simple children of nature to a 
place of punishment or banishment simply because they 
had no temple built by hands in which to worship, be- 
cause they had no prayer-book written in a language 
that they did not understand. It outrages all my feel- 
ings in regard to the Divine purpose of creation. I only 
wish I were as sure of future bliss as are these Indians, 
whose simplicity and sincerity of worship might well 


THE QUEST 


107 


teach a valuable lesson to those who go to confession 
every month and during the intervening time play at 
high finance where the weaker go to the wall. 

“Well, after being there three months and giving 
them what instruction I could, so that their life might 
be more comfortable, Friday and I started up the river 
again, followed by the regrets and good wishes of the 
whole tribe, numbering in all over three thousand souls. 
They told us that there was another tribe of Indians 
about four days’ journey up the river and on the south 
side, calling themselves ‘J UI V who were ordinarily harm- 
less so far as persons were concerned, but that they 
were great thieves, and lived principally on what they 
stole from the other tribes, living up and down the river, 
as they were too lazy to do any work. This warning 
we took advantage of, and when we got in the neigh- 
borhood of these thieves we took an all-night journey, 
and so got past them without an interview. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


CAPTURED. 

“Fifteen days after we had left our blue-eyed friends 
we were interviewed by a large canoe full of the most 
degraded-looking Indians I have ever seen. Their hair 
was long, coarse, black and matted, as if they had never 
given it the least attention. They wore heavy rings of 
gold, hung in holes pierced in the lobes of their ears, 
and the weight of these rings had dragged this part of 
the ear down so that the rings rested on their shoulders. 
Their cheeks were high and prominent, the mouth large 
and brutal, the nose large, broad and somewhat flat, giv- 
ing one the idea that there must be some African blood 
in their veins. Their skin was dark brown, their arms 
excessively long and muscular, their legs short and stout, 
and the abdomen large and protuberant. 

“They carried spears made of the guiacon, sharpened 
at both ends and weighing at least fifteen pounds. As 
soon as they saw us they came rapidly in our direction, 
and we feared that they would run into our canoe, and 
we made signs for them to keep at a distance; but they 
did not seem to heed us until when we expected that 
they would run bow on into the broadside of our canoe, 
they suddenly, and with a dexterity most surprising, 
brought their canoe alongside of ours, so that they lay 
touching each other. They then laid hold of the gun- 
whale of our canoe, and began to talk, not one word of 
which did either Friday or myself understand. 

“By making signs I endeavored to make them under- 
stand that we were going on up the river, and did not 
108 


THE QUEST 


109 


care for any entertainment, as we were visiting the 
country in an unofficial capacity, and while we were 
ready to believe everything they said, still we had some 
ideas of our own as to what was the best course to pur- 
sue; and I indicated to them that nothing would please 
me better than to have them take their dirty hands off 
our boat and allow us to continue our journey in peace 
and quietness. 

“Whether they understood or not, they acted upon the 
principle that might is right, and proceeded to take us 
in tow, making for a beach on the north side of the 
river and about half a mile further up. They allowed 
their canoe to range with its bow a little ahead of ours, 
so that their foremost man with the paddle could have 
an opportunity to assist in the towing process. They 
still held firmly to our canoe, and we began to make 
good headway up the stream. I then told Friday 
to hand me the hatchet which we carried, and then I 
gave them to understand that we would cut ourselves 
loose if necessary ; thereupon two of their number stood 
up and made as if they were going to kill us with their 
spears. I caught up my rifle and told them that there 
were always two who could play at a game. 

“They seemed to realize that what I meant boded no 
good to them if I really carried out my intentions. We 
then had a pow-wow, and they showed by signs that 
there was no harm intended for either of us, and in 
any event their numbers were so much greater than 
ours — ten to one — that we would stand but a poor chance, 
which argument was at least reasonable; so, after talk- 
ing the matter over with Friday we decided to accom- 
pany them as gracefully as possible and take every pre- 
caution against treachery. We soon landed on the 
beach, and both canoes being pulled up out of the 


no 


THE QUEST 


water and covered with plantain leaves, we started to 
the north and directly away from the river. 

“It was about ten o’clock when we landed, and we 
traveled for about an hour, when all stopped to rest. 
I had my rifle and machete, and Friday had only his 
machete, as he said that if he needed a spear he could 
very easily get one from the Indians ; and there was a 
gleam in his eye when he said it that told me that he 
suspected treachery. 

“After resting an hour we all made ready to resume 
our journey, when one of the Indians proposed to carry 
my rifle. I declined so decidedly that even he realized 
that there was a point beyond which he might not go, for 
the time being at any rate. Friday would not be 
separated from me, and we traveled single file, some of 
the Indians leading and the others following. It was 
two o’clock in the afternoon when we got out of the 
jungle, and there lay before us a treeless plain of about 
a mile in width, and on the far side another stretch of 
jungle towards which our path directly led. When 
we had entered this jungle we found evidences of life, 
but no habitation could be discovered. 

“It was useless to try to get any information from 
our hosts, so we followed without question until we 
had gone perhaps half a mile into the forest, when 
they all stopped and gave a call that was quickly" an- 
swered from overhead in a dozen different places. On 
looking up, we found that every tree of any consider- 
able size had built among its branches what looked like 
an inverted cone about ten feet in diameter and fully 
twenty feet from the ground. Before we had time to 
be surprised at this mode of living, we were surrounded 
by dozens of these Indians, male and female, and if the 
men were repulsive, the women were very much more 
so. 


THE QUEST 


hi 


“They looked us over pretty carefully and wanted to 
get my rifle from me, the use of which they did not 
seem to understand, and I did not think it the proper 
time to demonstrate its qualities for good or evil. I 
insisted on retaining all of my possessions, and Friday 
did likewise. The beard on my face seemed to excite 
the most curiosity, but our clothes came in for a good 
share of inspection. They wore no clothes themselves, 
and seemed to think that our apparel was a part of our- 
selves, or as much so as our hair, at least. After this 
inspection was over we were led to an open space, 
where we sat down to rest, being still surrounded by 
several hundred of these men, women and children. Up 
to this time I had not discovered anyone who seemed to 
be in supreme authority, but after all had been seated 
there stalked into the center of this little park an Indian 
with a broad band of gold around his head, and of 
greater stature than any of the others that I had noticed. 

“When he stood upright the tips of his fingers reached 
Quite two inches below his knees, and his muscles would 
afford a good study for the anatomist, for they were 
not concealed by adipose tissue. He held in his hand 
a spear similar to those carried by the others, but with 
this addition, that the pointed ends were both covered 
for a distance of ten or twelve inches with beaten gold. 
He waved this spear in the air, and in a loud, harsh 
voice made quite a lengthy speech, which was responded 
to by grunts of satisfaction from those seated around. 
As soon as this harangue had ceased, there was a com- 
motion on the outside of the circle just behind where 
we were seated, and a number of these savages came 
rapidly forward, bringing five captives whose hands 
were bound, and placed them directly in front of our 
position. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


A REINFORCEMENT. 

“As soon as Friday saw them, he said to me, ‘Men 
from Orinoco, me know, can talk.’ The upper part 
of their bodies was tattoed in squares and triangles, with 
red and blue colors. The poor captives looked around 
as if seeking some avenue of hope or escape. I told 
Friday to talk to them, but to make it appear as if he 
were talking to one of those seated around. The cap- 
tives seemed to at once understand what was being said, 
and why they were not directly addressed, and, show- 
ing no surprise, they replied to Friday, but making it 
appear that they were talking to one another. 

“In this way we learned that ten of their tribe had 
been captured two months ago by these Indians, and 
that the other five had been killed and eaten, and that 
was now what they were going to do with them. They 
also told Friday that they would probably keep us until 
other captives were brought in, when they would per- 
form the same pleasant duty towards us. I began to 
have visions of these wretched creatures smacking their 
lips over a juicy bite out of my calf or biceps, and a 
feeling ran up and down my back like the trickling of 
water colder than any that could be obtained - in this 
vicinity. 

“I soon decided that it was better to die fighting for 
life than to tamely submit to be butchered like sheep. 
I determined on a bold move, and told Friday to listen 
to what I would say, as it was meant for him and the 
captives; but I would make it appear that I was ad- 
112 
















■ 






A NATIVE SITE ON THE ORINOCO 


THE QUEST 


ii3 

dressing the chief. I then got up, and, brandishing 
my rifle, I advanced until I was standing in front of the 
captives, and, apparently addressing the chief, I said: 
‘Now, Friday, we are about to be converted into a pot- 
pie to gratify the epicurean desires of the worst-looking 
lot of wretches it has ever been my misfortune to gaze 
upon, and I do not propose to calmly await my fate 
without some show of resistance while I have two hands 
free and this rifle with plenty of ammunition; so, Fri- 
day, you will tell the captives that you are going to set 
them free, and as soon as I fire the second shot from 
my rifle, they are to each seize a spear from one of the 
Indians and follow you, and you are, as soon as I fire 
the first shot, to cut the bonds of the captives and make 
a break for the river and the canoe. As soon as you 
get to the open plain, wait for me, for I will follow as 
quickly as possible.” 

“All this was listened to with the greatest attention 
by the chief and his tribe, and, of course, they did not 
understand one word of it. Again brandishing my rifle. 
I said: ‘Now, Friday, be ready,’ and, pointing the muzzle 
of the gun in the air, I discharged it. The effect was 
instantaneous and satisfactory; they all threw them- 
selves on their faces to the ground, the chief included. 
I then said in a loud and commanding voice, ‘Quick, Fri- 
day; you and the captives run,’ and again pointing the 
gun in the air, I discharged it a second time, and, turn- 
ing around, I followed Friday and the others as rapidly 
as possible towards the river. It was now within an 
hour of sunset, and it had taken us nearly four hours 
to make the trip from the river, not counting the rest; 
and could we make this run before dark? 

“We had scarcely gotten out on the plain when we 
discovered that they were after us. I then told Friday 
for him and the captives, except one, to keep on to the 


THE QUEST 


1 14 

river and have both canoes ready in the water, and I 
would make a stand and see if I could not stop their 
pursuit. Friday understood and acted accordingly. I 
stepped behind a large bunch of aloe and directed the 
Indian who remained with me to do the same; and the 
first Indian who broke cover — and it happened to be 
the chief, as I knew by his stature, I dropped with a 
bullet from my ‘Savage/ A score or more soon ap- 
peared, but when they found their chief dead with a 
hole in his breast they stopped and set up such a scream 
that I could not but feel a degree of pity, such as I 
always feel when I kill a deer. 

“I waited for a few minutes and saw them pick up 
the body of their dead chief and start back into the 
jungle, and then without delay I started with the tattoed 
Indian who had remained, and established a record run 
to the river. I found that Friday and the other In- 
dians had succeeded in getting both canoes into the 
water and were waiting for me. I crawled into my 
own canoe, and breathlessly told Friday to get away 
from the shore as quickly as possible and find an igarape 
on the other side into which we might go to hide and 
rest until morning. I was so exhausted with fear and 
exertion that I lay down in the bow of my canoe and 
allowed Friday and the captive Indians to do the pad- 
dling. I was soon asleep, and did not awake until 
Friday came to me with some hot chocolate, nut cakes 
and deer meat. 

“We then covered ourselves up in the canoes, Friday 
and one of the captured Indians keeping watch by turns. 
When morning came, a terrific wind and rain storm 
arose, and we were glad to remain in the canoes, which 
were perfectly sheltered both from wind and rain by 
the dense overhanging trees and vines of the jungle. 
That night, after darkness had spread its black curtain 


THE QUEST 


ii5 

over wood and water, we pushed out of our hiding place 
and proceeded cautiously up the river, keeping as near 
to the south bank as the depth of the water would per- 
mit. When it began to get light we sought a place 
where we might rest safely for the day, as I did not 
care to have any further dealings with our late hosts, 
and besides I have always entertained the greatest aver- 
sion to taking life where it could possibly be avoided, 
even though it be in self-defense. 

‘‘That night we started about sunset, and at midnight 
we reached a point where a considerable stream joined 
the Vaupes, and, not knowing which was the main river, 
we camped for the night. The next morning I found 
that we were about at the sixty-ninth degree of west 
longitude, and that here the Vaupes took us in a north- 
erly direction. For two days we traveled to the north, 
when we found our course to be again to the west. Dur- 
ing all this time we had seen no sign of human beings, 
and hoped that we would escape any further contact with 
these wild men of the jungle, until we got beyond the 
seventy-second degree of longitude, where it is said that 
the Indians are, while not civilized, certainly not canni- 
bals, and are not dangerous to meet and mingle with.” 


CHAPTER XX. 


LIFE AMONG THE TARIERA INDIANS. , 

“We had been traveling west for three days, and had 
come to the confluence of the Yapu with the Vaupes, 
and had landed on a beach on the south side of the 
main river and west of the Yapu, and were preparing 
to have a noonday meal, it being then about eleven 
o’clock. We had scarcely gotten a fire started when 
we were startled by the swish of a shower of arrows 
that went over our heads and dropped into the river 
beyond. We all sprang to our feet, and, looking in 
the direction from which the arrows had come, we saw 
about thirty Indians standing not more than fifty feet 
away and just on the edge of the jungle. They were 
nude, and each carried in his hand a bow and had a bam- 
boo tube filled with arrows slung over his shoulder. 

“These men were of medium size, and their features 
were so regular that they might very easily be mistaken 
for white men with their bodies stained brown. I told 
Friday and the others to be ready for any treachery, 
and I then beckoned for the Indians to come down on 
the beach, which they did, as I thought, rather care- 
fully, as if they might be entertaining the same feelings 
towards us as we were towards them. When they had 
arrived within ten feet of us, they all stopped and 
seemed to be waiting for some of our party to speak. I 
told Friday to speak to them, which he did, but they 
shook their heads in token that they did not understand 
him. One of the other Indians then spoke to them, but 
with no better results. 


116 


THE QUEST 


U7 

“I then endeavored to make known to them by 
signs why we were there and where we were going. 
They listened and attended patiently and carefully until 
I was through, when one of their number began to talk 
and gesticulate, and from him I gathered that the river 
came from the north, where were many high moun- 
tains, and that we would not be able to take the larger 
canoe any further, as the river from here was more 
rapid, and in some places we would be compelled to carry 
the smaller boat. We offered them some smoked deer 
meat, which they ate with an evident relish, but they 
did not ask for more. 

“They told us that they lived at the head waters of 
the Yapu, and near a high mountain where there was 
everything that they needed, and that their tribe num- 
bered many thousands. They also said that a little to 
the west of their home was a big river, which came out 
of the great mountains behind which the sun grows 
dark. I concluded, therefore, that perhaps the Vaupee 
river was not to be depended upon to carry me as far 
as I wished to go, and that I had better accompany 
these Indians to their abode near the big mountain, and 
from there find my way to the larger river, which could 
be depended upon to take me farther to the west. 

“I then explained to them that I wished to go with 
them to their home, and from there I would go to the 
big river of which they spoke; to this they readily as- 
sented, and we at once prepared to start. They said 
that they had their canoes a little way up the river, and 
they would go on foot and wait for us there. We 
finally arrived at their landing and found them read) 
to lead the way. This river, the Yapu, runs through 
a nearly level stretch of treeless plain for a distance of 
sixty miles, and while it is narrow, it is never shallow, 
and we had, therefore, no difficulty in making headway 
with our canoes. 


ii8 


THE QUEST 


“When night came, they were going on, but I per- 
suaded them to rest and take daylight for the trip, and 
as this seemed agreeable to them, we landed and pre- 
pared our evening meal of fish, nut cakes and deer meat, 
after partaking of which we all lay down in the canoes 
and slept until morning. After we had had breakfast 
I noticed that Friday seemed dull, and not as vigorous 
as usual, and I asked him if he were sick. He told 
me that he was not sick, but that he had not trusted 
the Indians as implicitly as I had, and therefore he had 
remained awake all night for fear that they might be 
guilty of some treachery. I therefore made him lie 
down and have one of the captive Indians take his place. 
Thus we traveled for eight days before we came to the 
habitations of these Indians, who called themselves the 
Tariera. 

“We landed at a place beyond which we could not go 
with the canoes, because here the river came down over 
a rocky ledge fully thirty feet high, and the water above 
this fall tumbled over a rough and rocky bed from its 
source in the inaccessible ravines of the Aracura moun- 
tains. We then walked a mile through a magnificent 
forest, from which all the vines seemed to have been cut, 
and the only parasites we saw were orchids of many 
different kinds. There were parrots and monkeys on 
almost every tree, and as they seemed to have no fear 
I concluded that these Indians had plenty to eat with- 
out killing their Darwinian ancestors. 

“When we arrived at their village, or city, as I shall 
call it, I was surprised at the evidence of thrift and 
comfort which pervaded everything. Their houses were 
built of bamboo poles laid close together, and held in 
place by bamboo posts driven firmly in the ground, and 
the inside of the walls was plastered with a cement 
which they obtained by burning a limestone that cropped 


THE QUEST 


1 19 

out all along the river above the falls. The roof was 
thatched with a long, coarse grass that effectually kept 
out the rain, and the floor was covered with the same 
kind of grass, and this was renewed every evening. They 
used a covering at night made from a fibrous bark 
plaited and the braids sewed together by threads made 
from the same bark, the needles used being the thorns 
from the black palm tree. 

“The nights were cool, the elevation being in the 
neighborhood of fifteen hundred feet above sea level. 
They cultivated the banana lower down on the river be- 
low the falls, and above the city they cultivated pota- 
toes, yams, mandioca and arrowroot. There was al- 
ways a plentiful supply of fish, some of which they dried 
and ground to powder, and from this they made a very 
palatable soup. The women wore a skirt coming down 
to the knees, which was made from the same fibrous bark 
that they used for a covering at night, and they attended 
to all the work connected with the culinary department, 
and they were extremely clean about their cooking as 
well as about their persons. 

“The men did all the farm work and hunting and 
fishing, as well as the building. A great number of 
them were suffering with malaria, and did not seem to 
know any remedy for it. I still had some of the 
cinchona bark with me that I had gotten while with the 
blue-eyed Indians far down the river. This I prepared 
and gave to the sick, with the happiest results, and 
when my supply was exhausted I went up on the moun- 
tain to the west and found plenty of these valuable trees, 
from which I obtained a great supply of bark; and it 
was not long before most of those who had been sick 
with fever were again able to be up, and with a generous 
diet, and keeping them in after dark, they soon re- 
covered their usual health. 


120 


THE QUEST 


“The whole tribe was very much interested, and asked 
me to show them the tree from which I obtained this 
curative agent, and this I was very glad to do. I also 
showed them other medicinal plants of which they had 
no knowledge. Surely these things were prepared by 
the Creator for the ‘healing of the nations.’ The strangest 
thing about these Indians was that they did not have 
any religion and absolutely no form of worship, and 
their only code of ethics was the dictum of their chief ; 
and fortunate it was for all that the present ruler was 
a man of wonderful sagacity and of a sympathetic nature. 

“While he had never heard of the golden rule, and 
could not formulate its principles, still unconsciously all 
of his acts and dicta were governed by the principle of 
the brotherhood of man. When a new ruler was needed 
he was chosen by a majority of all the tribe, male and 
female, who had reached the years of discretion, which 
seemed to be about fourteen years, and if he did not give 
satisfaction a majority vote displaced him and put an- 
other in his stead. These elections were without excite- 
ment and there was no cost to any one and therefore no 
graft. The inauguration was also without cost and was 
very simple and short. 

“The day after the selection had been made the newly 
chosen ruler at sunrise seated himself at the entrance of 
the public park, which lay to the east of the city and 
which was a quarter of a mile square, and placing his 
palms downward on a small table that stood in front of 
him, remained in that position alone for an hour. The 
whole tribe then filed in, in couples, male and female, the 

male touching the left hand and the female touching the 
right hand of the ruler. 

“After passing, the couples separated, the women pass- 
ing out of the park through the gate on the north, and 


THE QUEST 


I2t, 

the men going out of the south gate, and then all returned 
to their different tasks. The only advantage the ruler 
had was that he did not have to attend to the cultivation 
of his fields, as this was attended to by the older men, 
who had been unfortunate enough to have survived their 
mates. 

“The park of which I have spoken was a square., 
enclosed by a fence four feet high made of bamboo 
stakes driven into the ground and it was used as a play- 
ground or amusement park for the young and old and 
they played many games that I had never seen before, but 
what astonished me most was that these men while ex- 
ceedingly mild mannered and gentle, were the most in- 
veterate fighters. They scarcely ever met in the park, 
without engaging in fist fight, and they very rarely quit 
until one or the other was down and out. 

“I could not but be impressed with the thought that 
surely here was virgin soil for the missionary, who 
wished to get the best results from the implantation of 
religious truths. There is no previous religion and ap- 
parently no conception of any in the hearts or minds of 
these men and women. I thought that perhaps it was 
my duty to try and convey to their minds some concep- 
tion of the great Ruler of the universe and their duty 
towards Him; but in thinking of their innocent amuse- 
ments and their harmless mode of living, I decided that 
it was better to leave them thus, than to give them a 
smattering knowledge of religion, its duties and delights, 
which unless kept in its purity, might degenerate into 
some form of idolatory and so their last case would be 
worse than their first. I tried to tell them that fighting 
was rude sport and beneath the dignity of men who 
were as intelligent as were they. I kept this up and 
before I left them I had the satisfaction of knowing 
that fighting had almost wholly been discontinued. 


122 


THE QUEST 


“They used as cooking utensils a pottery which they 
made from clay that was obtained only a short distance 
from the city. This they hardened by subjecting to a 
very great heat. I conceived the idea that I might better 
their situation, by showing them how to keep their sur- 
roundings in a more sanitary condition; I therefore got 
them to make clay pipes such as are used in America 
for sewers, and these we used as an aqueduct to convey 
the water from the river, about half a mile above the 
city, and then by a system of bamboo pipes they had each 
house supplied with a plentiful quantity of good water. 
And then by a little more work they had a sewer running 
through the centre of the city and all of the houses con- 
nected therewith. 

“They had no knowledge of the lace bark tree, and 
this I pointed out to them and explained its method of 
manufacture and its uses. After we had been here for 
ten days the Indians that we had saved from being the 
most savory part of a cannibal feast said that they 
wanted to go to their own home on the head waters of 
the Orinoco. We made inquiry of our hosts and learned 
that the river Papunagua was not more than one hundred 
and twenty miles directly north from them, and that the 
river empties into the Inixida, which in turn disem- 
bogues into the Orinoco at San Fernando de Atabapo. 

“We then prepared them for the journey and several 
of our hosts offered their services as guides for half 
of the distance, and so one morning these five tattoed 
Indians started out on their journey, being well supplied 
with a quantity of smoked deer meat, bows, arrows and 
spears. Before starting they came to me and attempted 
to express their gratitude for being saved from so horri- 
ble a fate, and they told me that they would whenever 
opportunity afforded, do anything in their power for any 
white man. 


CHAPTER XXL 


ON THE APOPORIS. 

“We remained here for several months, making fre- 
quent excursions into the mountains, collecting a supply 
of Cinchona bark to take along with us, for I feared 
that we might reach some place where it could not be 
obtained. The great river, of which these Indians had 
spoken, lay about twenty miles southwest of the city 
and proved to be the Apoporis. When we were ready to 
go they all begged us to stay and be their brothers, but I 
explained to them that I had other plans and that it was 
necessary for me to go on. A number of them said that 
they would accompany us to the river and assist us in 
making our canoe, and to this I did not object, as the 
making of a canoe out of a log of Mahogany is not an 
easy task. 

“So one morning we started out accompanied by fif- 
teen of the Indians, each carrying a generous supply of 
food. We arrived at the bank of the Apoporis on the 
evening of the second day, and, oh, the grandeur of the 
scene. The river valley here is not more than a mile 
wide with steep mountains two thousand feet high on 
either side. The clouds in the western sky appeared 
like burnished gold tipped with crimson, and plainly told 
us that our golden sunset, was but the rosy dawn of a 
day to countless thousands who, while perhaps living in 
the lap of luxury, and on the highest plane of civiliza- 
tion, were not more contented than we. 

“The next morning we selected a tree for our canoe 
and by alternately burning and cutting we had this giant 
123 


124 


THE QUEST 


of the forest lying prone when the shades of evening 
gave us warning that it was time to cease our labors for 
the day. Here we worked industriously for ten days 
before our canoe was ready to be launched. On the 
last day of our work, there arrived twenty of the Indians 
from the city, each one carrying a load of food for us 
to take with us in the canoe. There was nut meal from 
which to make bread or cakes, powdered fish, dried 
sliced yams, dried bananas and plantains, and a very 
plentiful supply of smoked meat. 

“They brought to Friday and to me a covering to be 
used at night to keep off mosquitoes, made from the lace 
bark tree, and this they seemed to take special delight in, 
as it showed me that they were going to make use of the 
little knowledge that I was able to impart to them while 
I sojourned among them. The next morning I could not 
help saying with Longfellow, 

‘To-day the vessel’s to be launched 

With fleecy clouds the sky is blanched,’ 

and as soon as we had eaten our morning meal we 
launched the canoe and loaded it with the good things 
that the Indians had brought and bidding them not a 
tearless farewell, we pushed out into the stream and 
started on our journey up the river, which here was 
about two hundred feet wide and quite rapid, so that 
we made slow progress, and when night came we had not 
gone more than four miles from our starting point. 

“The banks of the river here were covered with grass, 
the edge of the jungle being fully a quarter of a mile 
back , from the bank on both sides, thus giving us an 
opportunity of seeing the beauties of the river and jungle 
much; better than before. And the sun, rising over the 
hills we were leaving behind, made me wish for the 


THE QUEST 


125 


skill of the artist so that I might keep it forever with 
me. I have not words to express the material beauties 
of nature, morning, noon and night. 

“It was ever changing, ever beautiful, ever grand. 
And yet there are those who tell us that all is only a 
seeming. It is impossible for me to think that a man 
or a woman can be in possession of all of the faculties 
which God intended them to have and still give utterance 
to such expressions as ‘there’s nothing but mind,’ ‘there’s 
nothing but spirit,’ and so on ad nauseam. While it is 
true that the most of our troubles are fancied, and if met 
in a spirit of bravery with a determination to overcome, 
we find that they soon vanish, leaving us the stronger 
for having encountered and defeated them. 

“True social life, in pureness of thought and unity of 
desire, with an ambition for what is candid and just, 
and an abhorrence for deceit, corruption and fraud, 
would make the life among the so-called civilized people 
of earth something to be greatly desired, but instead 
we find the whole social life a fabric wherein the 
warp consists principally of duplicity and subtlety and 
the woof is made up of the different degrees of finesse 
and social jugglery. This is why I am here, and while 
I am willing to admit my cowardice in fleeing from 
conditions that I should have tried to correct, candidly 
I found the task so herculean that I decided to become 
a fugitive from duty rather than a self-despised par- 
ticipant in the social game. 

“If the Church were only honest in its beliefs and 
practices and followed out and acted upon the ethical 
and religious code as given and exemplified by the great 
Teacher and Saviour there would be a ray of hope that 
truth and love would soon be universal and that ‘the 
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man’ would 
not be cant expressions in the mouth of every blatent 


126 


THE QUEST 


street speaker in the interest of nihilism. However I 
have learned much in my travels and much that will 
enable me to enjoy my future state in a much greater 
degree than I would otherwise have been able. I have 
seen a spirit among the most uncivilized that would put 
to shame the most fashionable congregation in Europe 
or America, and that is the spirit of tolerance. 

“I firmly believe that were it not for what ‘some 
people might say’ there are few of the higher dignitaries 
of the churches but would resort to such practices as 
scandalized the world during the early days of the re- 
formation. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


THE END OF PAT’S STORY. 

“Well, as I was telling you, we wended our weary 
way up the river, viewing and being delighted by the 
ever-changing scenes along this magnificent stream which 
takes its rise in the eternal snows of the mighty Andes. 
On the morning of the fortieth day after our embarking 
on this river when we were about to start out for our 
day’s journey, we noticed a canoe coming rapidly towards 
us and as there was no opportunity to secrete ourselves 
we waited with a degree of trepidation, not knowing 
what to expect. There were six men in the canoe, and 
as soon as they saw us they stopped paddling and allowed 
their canoe to drift towards us and when they got near 
enough I observed that there was nothing vicious in 
their appearance. Their features were regular and 
though they were a very dark brown I could see that 
their faces were clean which is a mark of good breeding 
even in an Indian. 

“I spoke to them and told them my desires, and they 
looked at each other in amazement. They then talked 
among themselves until their canoe had drifted past ours. 
I tried to get them to understand that we were going up 
the river and wanted to know how far up they lived. 
At last they came alongside and giving us a rope they 
made us understand that they would take us in tow, and 
to this I did not object, as Friday had seemed to be fail- 
ing in strength during the past few days and I feared 
that he was going to have some serious illness, although 

127 


128 THE QUEST 

I had given him plenty of the tea made from the Cin- 
chona bark. 

“It was wonderful the progress these men made in 
towing us, and before night came we had arrived at the 
confluence of the Ajaju with the Macaya, and the sight 
that met my gaze is beyond my powers to describe. You 
never did go down the river far enough to see the beau- 
ties of the city from that point and to me who had been 
travelling through the jungles and expecting to see noth- 
ing but Indian encampments and then to have thrust 
before my vision a city built of stone, with beautiful 
facades and carvings and an air of comfort and happi- 
ness filling the atmosphere, I was dumb, as one in the 
presence of a masterpiece of the painter’s art. We did 
not land there but went up the Macaya to the landing 
from which we started on our present trip, and having 
disembarked we were escorted up the same road that 
you first came up and we were led at once to the prince, 
or priest as I have always called him. 

“He treated me as if I were a superior being and 
having seen to it that I had something to eat he arranged 
for Friday and myself to have adjoining rooms. The 
next morning Friday was very sick and altogether un- 
able to get up and he refused food. I went to the 
priest and succeeded in making him understand that my 
man was sick and that I wanted the things out of my 
canoe, and he at once had them brought to my room 
where I proceeded to make more Cinchona tea which I 
gave to the sick man. Thus I nursed him and did for him 
all I could but he seemed to grow gradually weaker. I 
felt myself powerless in the presence of disease, of which 
I knew nothing, and how I wished for a physician, but 
none was obtainable and I was compelled to see poor 
Friday pass out to the great beyond. 


THE QUEST 


129 


“No more faithful man or true ever drew the breath 
of life than this poor unlettered, I cannot say uncivi- 
lized, savage. The priest and some of the others would 
watch me as I waited on Friday and give him his medi- 
cine and food and seemed very much surprised at all 
the trouble I was taking. I did not understand this at the 
time, but after I had been among them for a few weeks 
I found that whenever one of their number got too sick 
to help himself he w^as carried outside of the walls of 
the city and made to drink a tea made from a nut resem- 
bling the bitter almond and certainly possessing its quali- 
ties in an exaggerated degree, for death very quickly and 
painlessly followed the draught. 

“This and many other of their practices I succeeded in 
getting them to discontinue and before I had been among 
them a year I had been able to instill into their hearts 
a kindlier feeling towards the sick and suffering and 
also towards the old and feeble. I found no feeble- 
minded or insane among them and they drank nothing of 
an intoxicating nature. I tried as far as possible to 
teach them that the God from whom they all expected so 
much also expected something from them. I showed 
them their life and health, the rain and the sunshine, the 
fruit and the results of their labors in the fields were 
direct gifts from the being that they worshipped and 
that they must in return not burn up this product as an 
offering to him, but be kind to those depending on them 
for support and to treat each other in a spirit of kind- 
ness and this would be more pleasing to the deity than 
anything else that they could do ; and after the first year 
among them I had the satisfaction of knowing that the 
practice of destroying their old, sick, and infirm, was a 
thing of the past. 

“I taught them some games, as golf and cricket, for I 


130 


THE QUEST 


do thing that a people without any amusement is liable to 
degenerate. I taught them the necessity of pure water 
and food, and under my supervision they put sewers 
through the whole city, as you have observed, and to-day 
there is not so clean a city in any country through which 
I have ever travelled. I was also able to give them 
instructions in methods of preparing their food, which I 
think is a great step in the direction of a true civilization. 
I also showed them in a crude way how to make use of 
the water power, of which they had so much, and before 
we left they ground all their nuts, fish, bananas, and 
arrowroot in that little mill that I pointed out to you on 
the south side of the city. 

“I believe, Mr. Adams, that I will some day soon go 
back among these people and try to make a Christian 
people of them and thus give them that refinement that 
must come of close and careful study of the life of the 
man who went about doing good. I believe it is a great 
mistake to go among the heathen and begin by tearing 
down their gods that they have been taught to worship, 
to suppress their religious excercises and subvert their 
institutions as a preliminary step to Christianization or 
civilization. Of course if the object of civilization is the 
extension of the avenues of trade and commerce so that 
nations and individuals may become rich and in a world 
power sense great, then our civilization is a delusion and 
a snare; a delusion to ourselves and a snare to the un- 
happy tribe or nation that is brought under its influence.” 

Mr. Adams would sit or recline under the shade of the 
awning for hours listening to Pat talking of one subject 
or another, always interesting, always instructive. 

Thus they travelled without adventure until they had 
reached the seventy-fourth degree west longitude, when 
they disembarked and told the Indians that they might 


THE QUEST 


131 

go back to their own city. Their course now lay clue 
south and principally over the open country, with here 
and there a stretch of jungle. When they came to a 
stream they usually found the banks well wooded. As 
far as possible they were careful not to be travelling over 
the treeless parts during the hottest part of the day. 
They found no difficulty in feeding themselves as there 
was always an abundance of fish, fruit and roots as well 
as deer and ducks. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAKE CITY. 

They had been travelling four days when one evening 
they came in sight of what looked like a white rocky hill 
about twenty feet above the level of the surrounding 
plain. Deer and other animals seemed to be very plenti- 
ful and they found no difficulty in getting a nice red 
deer as well as several peccaries. On arriving at this 
mound they discovered it to be a spring of pure salt 
water, and what had looked like white stone was nothing 
more than salt which had collected because of evapora- 
tion. Here they found evidences of man having visited 
this spring recently, probably for the purpose of collect- 
ing salt, and there was a distinct and well travelled path 
leading from the spring to the south. They decided to 
camp here for the night and take this trail in the 
morning. 

Towards morning they were awakened by an unde- 
fined noise coming from the direction in which they were 
travelling. They listened intently and soon discovered 
that there were persons coming towards the spring. They 
had built their camp about two hundred yards from the 
trail and about four hundred yards from the spring and 
were hidden from view by several bunches of aloe and 
wild pineapple. The visitors came along the trail or 
path in single file but close together, and seemed to be 
all talking. They went at once to the salt mound and 
began digging. The travellers were at first undecided 
what to do, and Mr. Adams suggested that the guide 
approach them as soon as it was sufficiently light and that 
132 


THE QUEST 133 

he and Pat should be ready to protect him if the 
Indians should show any disposition to harm him. 

They waited until sunrise and then, Mr. Adams and 
Pat remaining hidden, the guide boldly walked out 
towards the men who were digging so industriously at 
the salt mound. As soon as the Indians saw the guide 
they stopped work and waited for him to approach, 
which he did fearlessly, and when he had gotten almost 
amongst them he began talking to them. The Indians 
did not seem to be at all excited until the guide pointed 
to where Mr. Adams and Pat were, when they all threw 
down their picks and, with the guide leading, came 
directly toward the hidden men. 

“Sure,” said Pat, “he’s bringing the whole troop after 
us, but I guess they don’t mean to do us any harm and 
so I think we had better treat them as if we were their 
betters, which we are by the way, if there is any virtue 
in being civilized.” 

Mr. Adams and Pat then stood up, still holding their 
guns and being ready to defend themselves if need be. 
As soon as the Indians, and there were twenty-five of 
them, saw Mr. Adams and Pat they took off their hats 
and made a most profound bow and still keeping their 
hats in their right hands they held their left hands up 
and approached. 

“That is to tell us that they will not harm us,” said 
Pat. 

Through the guide they learned that these Indians 
lived two days’ journey from this place and that they 
had a beautiful city and would be glad to have us accom- 
pany them to the city when they had succeeded in getting 
their load of salt for which they had come. Mr. Adams 
then told the guide to ask them if there was any lake 
near their city. He had scarcely begun speaking when 


1 34 


THE QUEST 


the whole twenty-five Indians threw up their hats and in 
very good English said, “We speak like that, our teacher 
talk like that.” 

Mr. Adams and Pat were so astonished that they 
hardly realized what was happening before two of the 
Indians had seized Mr. Adams and another two had Pat 
upon their shoulders and the whole band had started 
towards the city which they had said was distant two 
days’ journey. Mr. Adams thinking that they might 
intend harm began to remonstrate with them, but the 
only reply was, “No harm, carry to city where every- 
thing good.” 

The guide followed, he and some of the other Indians 
carrying the guns and other traps. When two Indians 
would get tired two others would take Mr. Adams and 
Pat and thus the whole day they were not allowed to 
walk. When evening came they arrived at a large 
thatch-covered house where were several hammocks as 
well as places to hang others. Besides this the whole 
house was screened by a material obtained from the 
lace bark tree. The Indians had food with them, which 
consisted principally of small cakes toasted brown, which 
they afterwards learned were made from a flour or 
meal of the ground Brazil nut, or as Mr. Adams had 
called them in his youth, “niggar toes.” 

They started next morning at sunrise, after having 
had a good breakfast of toasted deer meat, yams, and 
“nigger toe” cake. 

About four o’clock that afternoon they approached 
an immense stretch of jungle which they entered by a 
circuitous, narrow and well-hidden path, but after pene- 
trating the forest a few hundred yards they came upon 
a wide path capable of allowing several people to walk 
abreast. This road led in a southwesterly direction, and 
after they had travelled about a mile there burst upon 


THE QUEST 


135 


their view a scene never to be forgotten. A lake almost 
circular and over five miles in length, the water of 
which was of the deepest blue. On the east and south 
sides were cultivated fields extending from the shore of 
the lake back the distance of a mile or more, where they 
met the jungle. These fields were laid out with perfect 
regularity in rectangular lots, being a little narrower as 
they approached the lake and having paths running 
between the different fields, some leading directly out 
from the lake and others running at right angles. On the 
north side of the lake was a city of apparently ten thous- 
and inhabitants, but from the point where they had 
come out of the jungle it appeared like a city of churches, 
so many steeples and minarets did they behold, their 
tops glistening in the rays of the setting sun like burn- 
ished gold. 

They stood and gazed in amazement and wonder, first 
at the fields, then at the lake, and then the city, which 
was only about a mile from where they were standing, 
and they wondered if they had not been the subjects of 
some delightful enchantment. The Indians seemed to 
enjoy the surprise of the visitors and said, “Our teacher 
did all this.” 

Mr. Adams and Pat wondered who their teacher could 
be to get these wild people of the jungle to cultivate 
their fields to such perfection and to have everything 
arranged so beautifully without lessening the utility. 

Bordering every path through the fields were two rows 
of shade trees on either side, but these trees besides 
offering abundant shade also provided them with an 
abundance of fruit of many different kinds. 

The river which emptied the surplus water from the 
lake was on the northeast and, running in a semicircle 
towards the north and west, almost encircled the city. 
There were three rivers feeding the lake, two of which 


136 


THE QUEST 


had their origin in a range of hills two thousand feet 
high and about ten miles distant, and the third came 
from the foothills of the great western range and ap- 
proached the lake through a gap or canon in the nearer 
hills. 

After they had stood taking in the wonders of this 
land of enchantment for a space of half an hour the 
Indians said, “Come to city, we show you.” 

They were standing near the southern bank of the 
river that ran out of the lake and had to cross it to get 
to the city. On approaching they found it to be spanned 
by a splendid stone structure having two central piers, 
and the approach on the city side was guarded by a gate 
constructed of strips of copper fastened to immense 
timbers of Guiacon, and swung open both ways, being 
hung on a central pivot resting in a cup hollowed out in 
a huge block of jaspar, the cone shaped end of the center 
timber fitting into this cup so exactly as to give Mr. 
Adams and Pat considerable thought as to how it was 
done. This gate was guarded by two men who were 
dressed in slate-colored pants and white coat, and wire 
hats made from a native grass and very much resem- 
bling the ordinary Panama hats of commerce. The only 
weapons of defense they seemed to have were machetes, 
but they afterwards learned that in the little sentry 
houses which stood on either side of the roadway there 
was always a supply of poisoned arrows and tubes 
through which to project them. 






























































• 





































THE CACAO TREE AND FRUIT 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


IN NEW AND PLEASANT QUARTERS. 

They then accompanied their captors, for such they 
almost appeared to be, towards the city, which was only 
a few hundred yards from the river gate. They travelled 
over a smooth macadam road and came to the wall which 
surrounded the city except on the lake front, and there 
was only one gate on this the east side, constructed in 
the same way as the one at the bridge. Through this 
they entered and found themselves on a broad street 
well rounded in the middle and paved with a fine hard 
sandstone, and on each side there was a stone gutter 
full of running water. On the other side of the gutter, 
on the south side of the street, was a walk of stone 
flagging two feet wide. Setting back from this walk 
were the houses, and as all were alike a description of 
one will serve for all. 

The houses were built of sandstone obtained from the 
country on the west side of the lake where it was found 
in layers varying in thickness from nine inches to two 
feet, each layer maintaining its thickness, and these 
different strata being separated by thin deposits of 
limestone. The houses were two stories high and built 
on three sides of an open court, that is on the east, 
north and west, the south side or that facing the lake 
being open. The roof was made of long poles of 
bamboo reaching from the ridgepole to and running out 
over the sidewall for a distance of several feet, thus 
making broad eaves which protected the balcony that 
was on all sides. These bamboo poles were split in 

137 


THE QUEST 


138 

halves and a number of them were laid from the ridge 
to the wall with the hollow side up and a space was left 
between each of about three inches. 

Then other split poles were placed with the hollow 
side down, and covering the space between those with the 
hollow up, and the edges of the upper ones fitted into the 
hollows of those first laid, thus making a perfectly water- 
tight roof. On the southeast ell or corner of the house 
was built a tower, circular in form, and extending up to 
what might be considered three stories, the roof of 
which was cone shaped and surmounted by a short staff 
or pole, bearing on its top an arrow pointing in the 
direction of where the sun arose, or to the east. The 
roof of this tower was covered with sheets of beaten 
copper and the staff and arrow were of the same ma- 
terial. 

Every house had this tower and there were no houses 
built on, or facing, the north side of the street. The 
direction of the streets was east and west and north and 
south. The southern terminis of those running north 
and south, was the lake shore and the northern terminis 
a beautiful park of many acres. The guests were led 
along the street which began at the east gate for a 
distance of half a mile and they then turned toward the 
lake, and when wifhin half a block of the water, they 
all halted and Mr. Adams, Pat and the guide were shown 
into an uninhabited but not empty house, for here were 
all the furnishings that were necessary to make them 
comfortable. The front room on the left as they went 
in was large and furnished with a view to the comfort 
of those who wished to sit and talk or think. The next 
two rooms back of this were sleeping rooms, and beyond 
this and under the tower was a bathroom, furnished 
only with the means of taking a shower bath. 

On the right side of the central entrance was a room 


THE QUEST 


139 


corresponding to the one on the left, but furnished 
with hammocks and couches which suggested siesta. The 
next room back was evidently a dining-room, and back 
of this was kitchen and larder or store room. They 
were asked to sit down in the first room, and then they 
were left alone. After looking about him, Pat remarked : 
“I wonder where we have got to at last? Surely we 
are not asleep ; pinch me Mr. Adams, or let me pinch 
you, for if I ever doubted my own senses I am certainly 
in that same fix now. We surely have not got over the 
Andes into Equador? But of course not, for the Spanish 
inhabitants of that country are not half so well behaved 
as these Indians, for Indians they certainly are. I won- 
der who their teacher is of whom they talk so much, and 
whom they seem almost to worship? He must be a 
white man and talk the Anglo-Saxon language, for these 
fellows have enough of it to be able to make themselves 
plainly understood, and I rather think that they know 
much more than they have thus far made it appear.” 

Mr. Adams did not talk much, but said that he won- 
dered if they would get a chance to see “the teacher.” 

Pat said that he thought that very likely he would 
hold himself aloof, as he was probably making these 
poor wretches treat him as a king and in that case would 
not allow strangers to approach him with any degree of 
freedom. 

While they were thus talking an Indian came into the 
room and said, “Dinner, come.” 

They followed him to the dining-room where they 
found a table covered with a white cloth and set with 
earthen dishes. There were two plates of beaten copper, 
on one of which was heaped up a goodly supply of cakes 
made from nut meal and on the other was a variety of 
fruit. A large dish in the center of the table contained 
a delicious soup, to which each was helped by the man 


140 


THE QUEST 


who had informed them that dinner was ready. After 
they had partaken of the soup their dishes were re- 
moved and another Indian brought in a large platter of 
silver on which was a boiled haunch of venison, and 
with which they had potatoes, yams and peas. When 
they looked at this, Pat said, 

“Kick me under the table Mr. Adams or I will think 
I have been dreaming these last four years and that 
now I am going to wake up and find that there is nothing 
real in any of it. The next thing we know they will 
bring in coffee and cream and a nice cheroot to taper 
off with.” 

And sure enough when the remains of the meat had 
been removed they brought them in each a silver cup of 
coffee and cream and sugar, all in silver vessels of small 
size. 

“Sure they have been expecting us,” said Pat, “and 
who do you suppose they think we are?” 

While they were drinking their coffee an entirely new 
waiter brought in some very nicely made cigars, on a 
silver dish. This was too much for Pat and he said to 
the Indian who brought them : 

“Say, who are you and who are we? Are we in 
South America or the United States?” 

The Indian seemed to hesitate and then with a smile 
which was filled with meaning said: 

“You sleep and in morning see city and know all,” and 
then he vanished. 

They talked for a little while and were beginning to 
get sleepy when an Indian came in and said in an inter- 
rogative tone: 

“Go to bed?” 

They all readily assented and Mr. Adams was given 
the room nearest the bath, Pat next, and the guide was 
told that he would have to sleep on the upper floor, but 


THE QUEST 


141 

he flatly refused and signified his intention of sleeping at 
Mr. Adams’ door. When the Indian found that the 
guide was determined to have his way, he went and got 
a hammock and hung it on the veranda just in front of 
the door opening into Mr. Adams’ room, as all doors 
opened out on this veranda or portico. 

Mr. Adams slept very little that night and when morn- 
ing came, he took a bath and when about to dress for the 
day he heard a voice at the door say : 

“Clean suit of clothes here, you wear.” 

He partly dressed and going to the door his guide 
handed him a complete outfit, including sandals, and all 
white. In these he arrayed himself and they fitted him 
as if they had been made especially for him. As soon 
as he was dressed he walked out into the court and there 
were Pat and the guide, both dressed as he was, and 
enjoying the morning breeze from the lake. They could 
get the odor of the orange and lemon trees that were 
growing to the east and south, and other pleasant odors 
too, but they failed to find anything in the air that spoke 
of decay. The water of the lake was a beautiful tur- 
quoise blue and the smoothness of the surface was only 
broken by little rings that betokened the plentitude of 
fish beneath. The first question Mr. Adams asked Pat 
was: “Do you suppose we shall see ‘the teacher’ to-day?” 

“Before Pat had time to express himself an Indian 
appeared and said: 

“Breakfast, come.” 

They went in and there for their delectation were 
poached eggs, dried banana meal cakes, coffee, fruit and 
nuts. After having finished their morning meal almost 
in silence, an Indian came in and said: 

“Me show City.” 

They were all anxious for this pleasure and therefore 
without hesitation they followed him. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


THE CITY AND COUNTRY. 

He led the way to the lake, along the shore of which 
was a splendid wide macadam walk that extended from 
the east wall to the west. Along this they walked, 
and their Indian guide pointed out first a large building 
that he told them was for the people to go in to “pray 
and make good.” 

On the western edge of the city and almost on the 
shore of the lake was a large two-story building cover- 
ing something more than an acre of ground, and this the 
Indian pointed out as the place where “all sick get well.” 
This they understood to be the hospital. 

Mr. Adams asked, “Where is the doctor?” 

The Indian replied, “No know doctor; teacher him 
make well.” 

Mr. Adams again asked, “Where is the teacher?” 

And the Indian replied, “Him gone to big city where 
sun sets to get things for sick and for hospital. He be 
back in twenty suns.” 

With this they had to be satisfied, and the Indian then 
showed them how the city got its water supply from 
one of the rivers that flowed into the lake. They had 
laid earthen pipes from five miles up the river down 
to the city, and thus were able to get a supply of pure 
water without the possibility of any contamination. They 
also had a system of sewers that emptied into the river 
that flowed out of the lake, and which they had crossed 
just before entering the city the evening before. They 
142 


THE QUEST 


M3 


were shown three quite extensive one-story buildings 
where the children “go to learn.” 

After pointing out each of the improvements, the In- 
dian would always say, “Our teacher did that.” He 
told them that they got gold and silver out of the moun- 
tains to the north of the big river, and they got copper 
from the mountains to the south, both of these ranges 
being from eight to ten miles from the city. The In- 
dian did not show any inclination to take them into any 
of the public buildings, and Mr. Adams asked him where 
the “teacher” lived, and the Indian, pointing to a small 
house near the hospital, said : 

“There he sleep, but work all day.” 

Mr. Adams then asked if they might not go into the 
“teacher’s house,” and the Indian said, “No.” He was 
then asked to take them into the hospital, but he replied : 

“No good there; you no sick; you no teacher.” 

They were then taken back to their hotel or lodging- 
house, and after a light lunch they were left to them- 
selves. The air was warm, but not oppressive, and the 
breeze which came over the waters of the lake seemed 
to have a soothing effect, and they all stretched them- 
selves out in hammocks and were soon sound asleep. 

After being asleep about an hour, Mr. Adams awoke, 
and, going out, walked down to the shore of the lake and 
watched the children and women playing about in the 
water or paddling around in canoes. After a time 
Pat and the guide came down, and they all stood inter- 
ested and amused at their wonderful agility in handling 
the canoes, one of which was managed by two women and 
they had four little children in the boat with them. Sud- 
denly this canoe turned over without any apparent 
reason, and spilled the occupants into the water. In 
an instant Pat and the guide sprang in, and, both being 
strong swimmers, soon had the struggling children safely 


144 


THE QUEST 


landed, leaving the women to take care of themselves, 
which they were well able to do. 

When Pat and the guide got on shore with the chil- 
dren, Mr. Adams made a careful examination of the little 
ones and found that one of them had ceased to breathe, 
and he at once proceeded to resuscitate it by methods he 
had been taught in his old home. The Indian women 
had reached the shore by this time, and seeing that one 
of their charge was apparently dead, set up a terrible 
cry, which soon brought several hundred people down to 
the lake to discover what was the matter. 

Mr. Adams worked rapidly, and after a little while 
had the satisfaction of seeing the child show signs of 
returning consciousness. He then tore off the wet cloth- 
ing and asked for some warm garment in which to wrap 
the child, and almost before the desire was expressed, 
a blanket of fine wool was handed to him. In a little 
time the child was out of danger, and Mr. Adams gave 
it into the hands of a woman who seemed to be waiting 
for that purpose. 

Pat and the guide had thrown themselves down on the 
stone walk, to give their clothes an opportunity to dry, 
but as soon as the excitement was over an Indian came 
up and said: 

“More clothes, dry, up in house.” 

They all went up and there found a clean dry suit for 
each, and while Mr. Adams had not been in the water, 
still, in handling the half-drowned child he had gotten 
quite wet, so they all changed, and very soon after this 
their dinner was announced. 

The next day they were taken in canoes over to the 
south side of the lake, to see the way the fruit and 
vegetable grounds were arranged. The next day they 
were taken up the big river, which empties into the lake 
on the west, and they saw the mines where they got their 


THE QUEST 


145 


gold and silver. The gold was found near the river, 
and was in nuggets, being a purely placer mining propo- 
sition. The silver was in veins in the sides of the canon 
through which the river flows, and is almost pure metal. 

A few days later they started for the copper mines, 
and as they would have to be away overnight, they took 
along sufficient food, as well as hammocks, for Mr. 
Adams, Pat and the guide, and the Indians seemed to 
be able to rough it more than they wished their visitors 
to do. 

The copper mines, as they had already learned, were 
to the southwest of the lake and about eight miles of a 
tramp after they had abandoned the canoes. This so- 
called mine is a solid mass of metallic copper, about fifty 
feet high, five hundred feet long, and two hundred feet 
across. How deep it extends into the ground it is hard 
to tell, but there is sufficient above ground to last these 
Indians many centuries. The only way they have of 
getting it is by patiently cutting it with steel chisels, and 
the whole hill of copper appeared like a huge tree at 
which beavers had been gnawing. The Indians told 
them that previous to the “teacher” coming among them 
five years before, the only copper they had was obtained 
from small pieces that they found scattered around on 
the hills in the neighborhood of this large mass, but that 
their “teacher” had gone over the mountains to the west 
and obtained steel tools, by which means they were able 
to do many things that they were unable to accomplish 
before his coming. He had taught them how to take 
care of themselves so that they might not get sick, and 
when unavoidable sickness came, he administered medi- 
cines and taught them what plants to use in different 
kinds of disease. He had built a house where those who 
were sick could be taken care of, and had taught many 
of their women how to nurse the sick and prepare proper 
food for them. Before he came, they had been in the 


146 


THE QUEST 


habit of going out among other tribes and stealing the 
female infants and rearing them as their own, and this 
they did so that they might not become physical degen- 
erates, as most tribes do when their numbers have be- 
come reduced from any cause. This their “teacher” 
had taught them was very bad, and that the best way 
to prevent physical degeneracy was by right methods of 
living, proper kind of food and it properly prepared, 
plenty of exercise, a healthy ambition to excel and not 
at the expense of others, and last, but not least, a cer- 
tain amount of religious enthusiasm that would spur 
them on to live up to the ethical code which that par- 
ticular religion inculcated. He had found them wor- 
shipping the sun because they feared that if they did 
not the orb of day would fall upon them and utterly 
destroy them. He had taught them to worship a God 
that loved them, who was the one from whom all good 
things come, and that the bad things came from their 
own carelessness, neglect or wilfulness, and that only 
by following out the rules of right living and by observ- 
ing the laws of nature, which are “the laws of God also,” 
could they expect to escape avoidable sickness and sorrow. 

He taught them to cultivate their fields so as to get the 
most out of them with the smallest amount of labor, how 
to make nets to catch fish in the lake, and how to cure 
these fish after they were caught; how to build mills to 
grind the dried fruit and nuts and arrowroot which 
formed such an important part of their food. He taught 
them how to cultivate the coffee plant and prepare it to 
the best advantage, also the sugar cane, and how to ex- 
press the syrup from it by passing it between heavy lig- 
num vitae rollers that were turned in the mill run by 
water power. He went with them to the mines and 
gave them valuable instruction so that mining opera- 
tions since his coming among them were much safer than 
they had previously been. 


THE QUEST 


147 


He had taught them to have a week set apart every 
year for the purpose of displaying the fruits, vegetables, 
nuts and all the results of their labor, it mattered not 
what that might be, and this exhibit was held in the 
market place on the high ground to the north of the city 
and park. The judges who awarded the prizes did so on 
the merit of the product, and did not know to whom they 
were being awarded. The prizes were given by the 
“teacher,” and consisted of new instruments or tools 
especially adapted to the work in which each was engaged. 
There was a general storehouse where all kinds of food 
and clothing as well as gold, silver and copper was stored 
for public use, and this was contributed by the individ- 
uals who had made displays at the market place, and 
every family was compelled to have some kind of a dis- 
play. 

These stored up goods were used for the general 
good in times of sickness or disaster, and for public 
utility. It was from this store that the “teacher” took 
gold and silver over the great mountains to exchange for 
steel tools and implements and all other stores that they 
could not procure in any other way. Any precious stones 
that were found were strictly the property of those who 
found them and they were allowed to do with them as 
they saw fit, the different kinds of gems being turquoise, 
opal and emerald. The “teacher” had appointed a head 
man or ruler to whom they all went with their difficulties 
and he adjusted them as satisfactorily as possible. If 
any serious disagreement arose between members of the 
tribe the ruler took both parties to the church and there 
adjusted them according to the rules that the “teacher” 
had given them as a guide. The ruler did not receive 
any remuneration for his services except that he was 
allowed to take from the common store house sufficient 
to supply his needs, 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


MR. ADAMS AND PAT GET BUSY. 

The day after they had been to the copper mine one of 
the women who was acting as a nurse at the hospital 
came to Mr. Adams and asked him if he would not go 
out there, as there was a patient in the hospital who 
needed more skill than they had. They had seen how 
Mr. Adams had handled the half-drowned child and 
therefore concluded that he possessed the same knowl- 
edge that their “teacher” did. He went and found that 
a young mother was very much in need of help, which 
he fortunately was able to supply. 

From this time on Mr. Adams was in great demand 
wherever there was sickness and the native nurses 
deemed themselves incompetent, and for this he was very 
thankful, as he was restless and nervous and the work 
being congenial gave him less time to think of himself 
and the things that were causing this restlessness. His 
guide followed him around like a faithful animal and 
seemed never at rest when Mr. Adams was out of his 
sight; and Pat would wander aimlessly about until the 
time for their evening meal, which they all ate together 
in the house that had been assigned to them on their 
arrival. When this meal was finished they would com- 
pare notes as to what they had been doing during the 
day. Pat was always amusing as well as instructive. He 
told Mr. Adams that he found strong resemblances 
among many of these Inlians to the different tribes with 
which- he had come in contact on his journey from San 
Fernando and Mr. Adams also noted the same fact, 

148 


THE QUEST 


149 


“But,” said Pat, “their natures are so completely 
changed that it is hard to believe that anything could 
have accomplished such wonders, short of a miracle. Are 
their hereditary tendencies destroyed, or held in abeyance 
until some circumstance arising, this inborn tendency will 
assert itself and then what will be the result?” 

“I think,” said Mr. Adams, “that heredity here is over- 
come by religious enthusiasm which has been instilled by 
their ‘teacher’ into the hearts and minds of these intelli- 
gent, but primitive people of the jungle. I can speak for 
myself that all of my old desires and tendencies and 
habits were either changed or utterly destroyed when I 
became a religious enthusiast.” 

“Why,” said Pat, “I never would have believed that 
you, Mr. Adams, were religiously enthusiastic, for even 
now I could not for the life of me tell whether you are a 
Roman Catholic or a Protestant.” 

“Pat,” said Mr. Adams, “I am not a Protestant, for I 
find nothing in mv religion to protest against, and I am 
not a Roman Catholic, for I do not believe that it is 
possible for any man to forgive sins, nor do I believe that 
it is possible for any man to be infallible. I do not believe 
that we should worship saints, for even Saint Paul re- 
buked those who attempted to worship him. I believe the 
Bible to be the only rule of faith and doctrine and that it 
contains all the instruction that we need for our life here, 
and living that life here as we should, or as near as pos- 
sible, 

‘Though each may gang a kennan wrang 
To step aside is human.’ 

when we enter into that future state, which our 
every conception tells us does exist, we will be able to 
enjoy it to the uttermost for all eternity. 


THE QUEST 


150 

“Well Mr. Adams/’ said Pat, “you certainly have a 
lucid hold of the situation and have placed within my 
mental grasp a truth which was always in front of me, 
but in such an indefinite recondite way that it seemed 
that I was guilty of transcendentalism when I attempted 
to seek the truth outside of the writings of the fathers. 
You have placed me on a foundation where I can see over 
the mists that have hitherto obscured my vision, for I was 
always looking downward, and now I see I must look up. 
Had I seen this before how different it might have been. 
But it is useless to say that and the thing for me to say 
is, what will it be for me and those around me in the 
future ?” 

The time was now approaching when these people ex- 
pected their “teacher” to come back to them, and they 
had sent many canoes up the river as far as it was naviga- 
ble there to await his return with the Indians who had 
accompanied him, and bring with them the supplies that 
were needed for all branches of work, but especially for 
the hospital. Mr. Adams would often find himself won- 
dering if this “teacher” would ever come back, and who 
he was and why he had come here, for he certainly must 
be a man not only of character, but of great ability, to 
have accomplished in five years what he had, with these 
heretofore semi-savages, for they had told Mr. Adams 
and Pat, that previous to the “teacher” coming among 
them, they had been in the habit of destroying all of their 
aged and infirm by drowning them in the river that 
emptied out of the lake. 

They had also, when assailed by other tribes, killed and 
eaten those whom they succeeded in taking prisoners, and 
when they had found him who was now their “teacher” on 
one of their kidnapping expeditions over to the north on 
the Guayabero river, they had brought him home with 


THE QUEST 


151 

them, intending to use him as an important feature in one 
of their feasts, but he seemed so harmless and devoid of 
fear, and besides he had given them medicine which 
cured one of the members of the expedition of a severe 
fever that by the time they had arrived at the city, he had 
won their confidence and created such an interest, that 
they desided to let him live among them, and lo, all this 
was the result. 

Pat had now taken up the work of teaching the Indians 
all he could. He went to the schools and talked to the 
children there assembled and impressed upon them that 
they were here only for a short time and that that short 
time should be used in preparation for a future existence 
and that their ambition should be not so much to excel in 
their own individual tasks and pleasures, but to strive to 
make the lives of their fellows as happy and pleasant as 
possible, and in doing this they would derive more plea- 
sure and realize more of the beauty of the religion that 
had been taught them by this “teacher” who was soon to 
be among them again. He told them in fervent terms of 
the happiness that would come to them by doing good to 
others and pointed out to them how devoid of satisfac- 
tion was anything that might come to them through 
selfishness or cupidity. He impressed upon them the 
necessity of doing the task in front of them to the best 
of their ability, and if to them it seemed irksome or 
fatiguing when it was finished their pleasure would be 
greater for having accomplished it, than if it had been 
easy or pleasant. He told them that the pleasure of doing 
good to others was like planting good seed in fertile soil, 
and that the abundant crop resulting therefrom gave 
opportunities for a still greater harvest in the future. By 
doing this their sum of happiness would mount skyward, 


52 


THE QUEST 


until it bore them on the wings of love and duty to the 
abode of the Saviour whom they had been taught to trust 
and worship. 

Pat found that their “teacher” had established places 
where the girls could be taught to perform the duties 
devolving upon them when they should reach maturity, 
and where the boys learned how to accomplish to the 
best advantage the work they would be called upon to do 
when they had reached the stature of men. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


THE QUEST ACCOMPLISHED. 

One morning as Mr. Adams was going to the hospital 
he noticed that there was great excitement among the 
people and on asking the cause he was told that the 
“teacher” was coming. He went on to the hospital and 
did what was necessary for the sick ones there, and 
then returned for his morning meal. When he arrived at 
the main street that led down to the shore of the lake he 
noticed a large number collected on the water front. He 
thought at first that he would also go down and see what 
manner of man this “teacher” was, but he felt nervous 
and excited and therefore went into the house and sat 
down to the table. It was evident that Pat and the guide 
had finished their breakfast and gone out to witness the 
home coming. 

Mr. Adams could not eat, but sat there thinking of 
many things, when the door opened and Pat, followed 
by the “teacher” came in; Mr. Adams rose from his chair 
and turned around to receive them, but suddenly grew 
faint and would have fallen, but was caught by the 
“teacher” who carried him to a couch and laid him gently 
thereon. He opened Mr. Adams’ coat and unbuttoned his 
shirt and then cried at the top of his voice, “Mary !” This 
he repeated several times until Mr. Adams opening his 
eyes and reaching out his arms said, “James.” 

The “teacher” at once sank to the floor unconscious and 
resisted all efforts at restoration. Mr. Adams, or Mrs. 
Williams as we shall now call her, for it was she, at once 
ordered him carried to his own house and having had him 

153 


154 


THE QUEST 


placed in bed she at once set about applying restoratives. 
He did not recover from the comatose condition until 
nearly night, and then began to talk incoherently about 
having murdered Enos Holmes. 

Mrs. Williams and Pat scarcely left the bedside for 
three days and the guide remained at the door always 
alert and never leaving unless to do the bidding of Mrs. 
Williams. The knowledge that she had acquired during 
the five years of the doctor’s absence, when she did almost 
all the nursing in the cove for the new doctor, was now 
of inestimable value to her. Pat would insist on her 
going for rest while he sat and watched beside the sick 
and delirious man. 

The whole population seemed to be waiting on the out- 
side to receive news of their “teacher” or to do the bid- 
ding of those who were waiting upon him. The house of 
prayer was full, night and day, of men and women, 
praying for the recovery of him whom they loved and for 
whom they were willing if need be to sacrifice their lives. 

Pat wondered if these people believed that “the prayer 
of faith shall save the sick,” and one day he asked one of 
the more intelligent of the men. The broad grasp of the 
truth as indicated by the reply of this erstwhile savage 
surprised Pat and made him wonder more than ever what 
kind of man this was who had taught these Indians in so 
short a time the principles of right living. The Indian’s 
reply to Pat’s interrogation was somewhat as follows : 

“We believe that faith is powerful, but we also believe 
that faith without work is no good. If the ‘teacher’s’ 
wife pray all the time and not give any medicine then we 
would stop praying for the prayers would be no good. 
God has provided herbs ‘for the healing of the nation’ 
and has given us the ‘teacher’ to show us how to use these 
herbs, so we not only have to pray for the sick, but we 
must also give what we believe and know to be healing 


THE QUEST 


155 


medicines and then if God sees that it is best for all, the 
sick will get well. We do not expect God to work mira- 
cles or change his natural laws because we wish it, and 
we know that he will not work miracles to save people 
from the results of their own acts, or because they happen 
to be fools. I do not know much, when the ‘teacher’ 
gets well he will tell you all about it.” 

On the twelfth day after the doctor’s illness began the 
fever abated and he dropped off into a deep and quiet 
sleep, from which they did not arouse him. He slept 
thus for ten hours and then opened his eyes and seeing 
Mrs. Williams said, “Mary.” His wife had not left the 
bedside a minute during the whole time of his sleep, fear- 
ing that should he awake and find some strange face he 
might lapse again into unconsciousness or delirium. She 
put her hand on his forehead and said, “Go asleep again, 
dear,” and he did for another two hours. 

From this time on he gradually gained strength, but 
asked no questions. When he would awake and not find 
his wife at his bedside he would show signs of restless- 
ness, Pat who always took Mrs. Williams’ place when she 
had to go for rest or refreshment, would quiet him by 
telling him that his wife had gone for some much needed 
rest and that he was the nurse from Boston who had 
come down to help take care of him during his illness. 

While Pat did not know the whole story of the doctor’s 
being here, and his courageous wife’s search for him, he 
had found out sufficient from the doctor’s ravings during 
the delirium accompanying the fever to assure him that 
some great wrong had been done and that there was a 
possibility that in the near future everything would be 
cleared and the doctor and his wife would be restored to 
their friends. 

After forty days of illness the doctor was able to sit 
up in a chair and from this time on his recovery was 
rapid and uneventful. When he was able to walk he 


THE QUEST 


156 

would go down to the lake front and enjoy the fresh 
breeze from the water or he would be taken out in a canoe 
by some of these devoted Indians. Pat would frequently 
accompany them, and many a conversation they had 
which gave him a keener sense of the problems of life 
than he had before possessed. 

One day when the doctor and his wife were sitting 
alone at the water front, he said: 

“Mary, tell me all.” 

She first took out of her pocket a small bottle in which 
was rolled a newspaper clipping containing the account 
of the confession of the murderer of Enos Holmes, and 
handing it to him allowed him to read it through without 
interruption. 

“But,” he said, “where are we now and how did we 
get here?” 

Mrs. Williams told him in as few words as possible 
the main events that had occurred during the past five 
years. She told him of all he had done for the Indians 
in this place, but as to his manner of getting into such an 
inaccessible part of the world she had no knowledge. The 
doctor then said : 

“Can it be possible that I have been living for five years 
in a sub-conscious condition and while in that state have 
accomplished all this that you have told me?” 

His wife then said: “Now James, what we must do is 
our duty as best we can and I believe that lies in our going 
back home. It will doubtless be a great sorrow for these 
Indians, but if I can judge from all I have seen the 
knowledge that you have imparted to them and the won- 
derful things that you have accomplished among them 
will be of lasting benefit and I do not fear that they will 
lapse into barbarism if left to themselves. At the present 
time they have a religion which teaches them to live, and 
having lived according to its teachings they need no 
special preparation for death when it comes.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


HOMEWARD BOUND. 

Just at this juncture Pat approached and said, “I be- 
lieve doctor you are now quite strong and will soon be 
thinking of taking a trip to the north land and if it pleases 
you I would like to remain among these people and learn 
from them some of the things you have taught them. I 
never thought I would have to come into the heart of an 
unexplored wilderness to learn the principles of true 
Christianity. Mv first comprehensible lesson I got from 
your wife when in a few words she gave me the whole 
philosophy of her religion and yours, and here I see it 
exemplified every day in these unlettered men of the 
jungle. I do not for a moment think that I will be able 
to completely fill your place among them, but I will do 
what I can, and I here promise that if you will permit me 
to remain I will be true to the faith that I have received 
since coming here.” 

“Yes,” said the doctor, “we have concluded that our 
duty lies in our going back home, and nothing could give 
me half so much pleasure as to know that these innocent 
and warm-hearted men and women have among them a 
man who is endowed with so brilliant a mind and who 
has such a comprehension of the truth as taught by God 
and nature as yourself. The past five years seem like a 
dream to me, part of which has its horrors, and part is 
most pleasant. My wife has told me all that has been 
done among these Indians and of their devotion to me. I 
do not apprehend that they would fully understand if I 
were to explain to them how I came to be among them 

157 


158 


THE QUEST 


and my condition of mind during all these years, so I 
believe that it would be best to leave all that unsaid and 
simply to tell them that duty calls me home among the 
people with whom I was before coming to them and that 
you have been opportunely sent among them and that you 
will do for them all that man can do, and that in any 
event they must depend upon themselves to follow out the 
principles that have been taught them.” 

'‘I cannot express to you my thanks,” said Pat, “for 
the kind words and especially the expressed confidence 
in me, and I will try to the best of my ability, God giving 
me strength, not to betray that confidence.” 

A few days after the people were called together in 
the park to the north of the city and here Doctor 
Williams explained to them that duty called him to his 
former home and that though he felt great reluctance in 
leaving them yet as he was able to leave among them 
one whose abilities were great and one whom many of 
the people, especially the children, already loved, he felt 
that they had every reason to rejoice, first, with him in 
his returning home and second, in the fact that Pat was 
going to remain among them. 

The following day Pat came to the doctor and told 
him that the people desired him to ask the “teacher” if 
he would accept some gifts from the individuals of the 
tribe as a token of their love and of their appreciation of 
his kindness to and patience with them during the years 
of his sojourn among them. Of course the doctor could 
scarcely refuse when he knew that it was out of the 
kindness of their hearts that the request was made, and 
he therefore told Pat that he would accept, providing it 
would be possible for him to take these gifts with him, 
for his journey home was to be by way of Bogota and 
until he reached the Pacific Coast the greater part of 


THE QUEST 


T 59 


the distance would be over a trail that could only be 
traveled by pack animals, thus prohibiting any large 
amount of baggage. 

At length the day arrived when they should start on 
their journey and as they were to be accompanied as 
far as Bogota by twenty Indians Pat decided to go that 
far and bring back what was needed for future use in 
the shape of manufactured tools and drugs, in the 
choice of which he would have the doctor’s assistance, 
and he would in this way avoid a trip that might be 
termed unnecessary. 

The guide who had come with Mrs. Williams was an 
interested observer of all the preparations, and when 
Mrs. Williams asked him what he wished to do he sim- 
ply replied, “Me go where you go,” and said it with such 
an air of finality that there was no room for discussion 
and therefore there was nothing more said on the sub- 
ject, but all preparations were made with the under- 
standing that he would accompany them. 

When they were getting into the canoes to start up the 
lake Pat handed Doctor Williams a small bag made 
from the skin of the alpaca and which he said con- 
tained some of the gifts of the Indians. The remaining 
gifts were in a beautifully made leather hand-bag, which 
he passed to Mrs. Williams, telling her at the same time 
to take especial care of it as it contained not only the 
promptings of loving, grateful hearts, but it contained 
very great intrinsic value and would place the doctor in 
a position where he could in the future do more for the 
sick and suffering than he had been able to do while 
practicing in that rural spot on the coast of Maine. 

The sorrow of these people on the occasion of Doctor 
Williams’ leaving them was beyond the power of tongue 
or pen to tell. Some of them gave vent to their feelings 


i6o 


THE QUEST 


by moanings and half-suppressed sobbings, but the 
greater number went to their house of prayer for com- 
fort and consolation. 

The trip across the mountains, while long and tire- 
some, was uneventful and Bogota was safely reached. 
Here leave was taken of Pat and the accompanying In- 
dians, and though the doctor appeared unmoved Mrs. 
Williams could not restrain her feelings and with tear- 
ful eyes she attempted to express to Pat her gratitude 
for his kindness to her during their travels from the 
Macaya river when she appeared as another. She told 
him that she would hope for the betterment of the world 
and of society while there still lived even a few men 
who possessed his faith and his convictions. 

From Bogota the journey was partly by rail and partly 
by pack mules, and they reached Buenaventura Bay in 
good health and without accident. Here they took 
steamer for Panama, which port they reached in five 
days after a stormy voyage. 

The doctor was very much interested in the work that 
had been done by the French in digging the canal and 
freely expressed the opinion that if the Americans 
would take hold of the project they would undoubtedly 
succeed, for they would first attend to the sanitary part 
and the rest would only be a matter of engineering. 

From Panama the trip to New York was pleasant 
and before they sighted Sandy Hook or Coney Island 
our travelers were in perfect health and the prospects 
of soon reaching home thrilled them with a delight which 
it would be impossible to describe. 

They remained in New York only long enough to 
visit a large jewelry establishment on Fifth Avenue in 
order to get some idea of the value of the gifts received 
from the grateful Indians, The doctor was astonished 


THE QUEST 


161 

at the price named and Mrs. Williams suggested that 
now he could have his greatest desire, a properly ap- 
pointed hospital sufficiently endowed so that none would 
have to be refused because they had no money. 

They went by rail to Boston and at once called on Mr. 
Moore, who invited them to remain with him for a few 
days until they should be rested. He told them of the 
good health of Mrs. Williams’ mother and sister, and a 
great deal of the news of the cove, as he kept closely in 
touch with what was transpiring there. 

A few days after their arrival Mr. Moore told them 
that he was compelled to be away for two days and 
advised them to see something of the city, and before 

going he introduced the doctor to a Doctor C , one 

of the professors at Harvard, and said to him on giv- 
ing the introduction, “This is the doctor of whom I 
spoke to you about a year ago.” 

On Mr. Moore’s return both doctor and Mrs. Will- 
iams expressed themselves as desirous of going home, 
and to this Mr. Moore offered no objections, but asked if 
he might not accompany them. They were only too glad 
to have him with them, for notwithstanding the fact 
that it was a home coming there was a loneliness and 
sorrow about it all that they could not overcome. 

When they arrived at the little railway station of 

Y they were met by almost all the people of the 

cove who were able to walk a distance of two miles. 
The Reverend Thomas McGregor was there with a 
happy look on his face, as was also the doctor who had 
taken Doctor Williams’ place. There was a carriage 
but no horses, and when Doctor Williams, his wife, and 
the guide, Mr. Moore and Mr. McGregor were seated 
in the carriage all those who could get a hand on any 


•■1652 ' THE QUEST 

part of the Vehicle contributed their share in conveying 
their long mourned friends to their home. 

Arriving at the Church' the 1 doctor and his wife were 
lifted out of the carriage '^ihd carried inside where they 
found Mrs. Williams’ mother waiting for them. She 
. embraced them both and it require^ all their self-control 
to appear- calm. 

The guide was an interested observer but said noth- 
ing and kept close to Mrs. Williams. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


THE EXPLANATION. 

When the people were all seated the Reverend Mr. 
McGregor stood up and calling upon the whole congre- 
gation to stand up, he poured out his soul in thanksgiv- 
ing. After the conclusion of the prayer he said : 

“My dear friends there is some explanation to be 
made in relation to the absence of those who are now 
restored to us. Some of you already know some of the 
details, but many of your do not, and I will now call 
upon Mr. Moore to come up here and explain to you the 
whole matter.” 

Mr. Moore then went up on the platform and read 
the account of the confession of the murderer of Enos 
Holmes, which many of them had never heard. He then 
went on to tell them that on the evening after the mur- 
der Doctor Williams appeared at Stafford’s house and 
told Stafford that he thought that he had killed Holmes, 
the miser. Stafford, knowing what had transpired dur- 
ing the day, and anxious to get the doctor out of reach 
of the law for a time, decided upon a certain plan of 
action. His brother had just come in from Gloucester, 
where his brig was loaded ready for a voyage to South 
America, and he had come down to see Stafford before 
sailing and was returning that night and would sail the 
next day. Stafford explained the whole affair so far as 
he knew to his brother and told him of all the doctor had 
done for them when the children had been taken from 
them and how at the last he had procured some medi- 
cine that had cured little Bess. The captain, a large- 


164 


THE QUEST 


hearted sailor, at once proposed to take the doctor with 
him on this trip and perhaps before his return matters 
would be cleared up and the doctor’s name cleared of 
any blame. There was no difficulty in getting the doc- 
tor to agree to the proposal, as he seemed to be in a 
state of passivity, and yielded to the slightest suggestion 
without objection. 

Accordingly when Captain Stafford started in his boat 
for Gloucester he had with him Doctor Williams. 

When Mr. Moore had come down to the cove im- 
mediately after the disappearance of the doctor and 
before he had gone back, Stafford had told him where 
the doctor had gone, and as it seemed best at that time 
Mr. Moore had said nothing about it to Mrs. Williams 
or any one else. 

When Captain Stafford returned from his voyage, 
which he did after ten months, he told Mr. Moore that 
the doctor had left the ship at Ciudad de Bolivar or 
Angostura and though he had spent three days trying to 
locate him his efforts had been without results. When 
Stafford learned of this he felt that the doctor had met 
with some accident and he blamed himself as being in 
a measure the cause. After five years of waiting and 
watching and suspense, during which time Mr. Moore 
had spared neither- trouble or expense in trying to solve 
the problems of the case, there came this confession of 
tlie murderer which he had just read. He at once 
brought it to Stafford who was more than ever puzzled, 
and while it cleared the name of Doctor Williams from 
all blame, still the mystery of the disappearance was as 
deep as ever. 

‘When Mrs. Williams was shown the confession of the 
murderer and then told of the doctor’s having been taken 
to ‘South America and how he had disappeared at 
Angostura, she decided that she would go in person and 


THE QUEST 165 

try to discover his whereabouts, and this accounted for 
her visit to Boston where most of the people in the cove 
believed she had gone to take a course in nursing ac- 
cording to the wishes of the new doctor. When she 
arrived in Boston and had seen Mr. Moore she told him 
that she intended dressing as a man and going to Angos- 
tura and from there she would follow whatever clew 
she might get of her husband. Mr. Moore wanted to 
get some reliable man to go along with her but to this 
she objected, first, because of the extra expense, and 
second, because she thought that she would rather trust 
her own judgment in following up any clew she might 
find than to be hampered by any one who might perhaps 
entertain a different opinion. Consequently she had ap- 
peared on board of the Bessie G. as Mr. Adams. On 
landing at Angostura she had learned that two days 
after Captain Stafford had sailed the doctor had ap- 
peared at the office of the American Consul, Mr. Good- 
win, and told him that he was a student of ethnology 
and wished to get to the head waters of the Amazon, 
somewhere in the neighborhood of the second degree of 
north latitude and the seventy-fourth degree of west 
longitude, where there was a tribe of Indians, the rem- 
nants of the Incas of Peru, and he wished to study their 
habits, customs and language. He told the Consul that 
his friends did not wish him to take this trip, but that he 
was determined to do so at all hazards, and he wished 
Mr. Goodwin to give him what help he could in fitting 
out for the journey. Mr. Goodwin, seeing nothing 
strange about this, readily rendered him what service 
he could, and when the doctor left there he said he 
thought he would go by way of the Cassiquiare and thus 
reach the waters of the Amazon much sooner than if he 
went by way of the Guaviare and would have practically 
no overland journey to make. Mrs. Williams had fol- 


i66 


THE' QUEST 


lowed up the direction as indicated by Mr. Goodwin, but 
when she reached Cabruta she had learned that the doc- 
tor had passed through there five years before, having 
with him two Indians, had remained there several days 
with the Americans who were there, two of whom were 
still there when Mrs. Williams arrived, and that before 
leaving this place the doctor had decided to travel by the 
way of the Guaviare and take the overland trip from the 
head of navigation to the south, this giving him a land 
journey of not more than three hundred miles. 

This news decided Mrs. Williams to travel by the 
same route and thus avoid the possibility of missing the 
doctor should he by any chance change his plans and 
remain by the way. 

She had taken this trip, endured the hardships inci- 
dent thereto, braved all the dangers which such a jour- 
ney must entail, and had finally reached the place where 
the doctor was, nursed him through a serious siege of 
brain fever, and had accompanied him home to those 
who had mourned for him as lost. 

Mr. Moore now told them that as he had told Stafford 
that he thought he could explain the doctor’s condition 
of mind, he would now proceed to do so. He told them 
that in the past he had made somewhat of a study of 
psychology, and he concluded that when the doctor 
awoke from the effects of the blow given by the mur- 
derer he was in a subconscious condition or state of 
mind, and had remained so until discovered by his wife. 

The cunningness and subtlety of persons in this con- 
dition was displayed by the doctor when he concealed 
himself from Captain Stafford when he was about ready 
to sail from Angostura, and then when he knew that the 
ship had sailed, in his going to Mr. Goodwin and telling 


THE QUEST 


167 


him such a plausible story, most of which, by the way, 
proved to be the truth. 

The one question which must for the present remain 
unanswered is, does the sub-conscious mind know things 
that have not been learned by the individual who is in 
this condition, and in truth things that have not been 
known to exist at all, and how does it come by this 
knowledge. 


THE END 

























One copy del. to Cat. Div. 

fES 5 





